Love
by donna79
Summary: How does it feel when you have everything that you have ever wanted?  Set four years after Worth Fighting For.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: How does it feel when you have all you ever wanted? Takes place five years after WFF.**

**Disclaimer: I have never nor will I ever own Twilight.**

**AN: Contrary to belief I did not leave you hanging with the end of WFF. I have this story completely written, so expect semi quick updates.**

The five hour drive did nothing to calm her nerves. She wished that she had flown instead of driving. If she had flown, she would be home already; in Jacob's arms where she belonged. But no, she had to be stubborn and decide to drive. The radio in her car didn't even work. The '68 Charger had been the birthday present that Jacob had promised her. She wouldn't let Rosalie put a stereo in it, even if Emmett did say that it was cooler than his brand new truck. Now she was wishing that she had. She would give anything to be able to take her mind off of her friends and family.

Emily had recently given birth to her second child. No one was more excited than Sam that it had been a boy. Especially since their first had been a girl. Callie would turn four while Bella was home and she was glad that she would be there to celebrate the birthday with her.

Hannah and Embry's son CJ had turned five in February. Just like Alice's vision had predicted CJ was exactly like Embry in every way. He was a happy go lucky little boy who never caused trouble. Hannah said that they had gotten lucky with CJ and hoped that their second son would be just as easy. She didn't know what she would do if he turned out like her. Hannah and Embry had gotten married on Christmas of Embry's senior year of high school. Hannah wanted to be married before CJ was born, but didn't want to be as big as a house when she walked down the aisle.

Emily and Hannah had become close over the years. They had lived together for four years until Embry and Hannah had finally built their own house. It had taken a lot of hard work, a loan and Embry working two jobs to make it happen.

Leah and Ryan had welcomed their son Curtis two years ago. Leah had been the first of the pack to stop phasing. They weren't married yet and Ryan has major league baseball scouts coming to every game.

Rachel and Paul had gotten married recently. Now that she was done with school she could focus on him and their relationship. They were happy, even if they rarely saw each other. Paul had packed up and moved to Seattle to be with her while she was in Med School. During that time he had stopped phasing, he said that it was the best decision he had ever made until he had proposed to Rachel.

Kim and Jared are just out of college. He had tried for two years to stay with the pack but decided that it was too much. He stayed friends with them and they respected his decision. They don't have any plans to marry.

Quil is still Claire's favorite babysitter. He is the first to volunteer to watch her, her brother and her sister when their parents need to be alone. His hard work will pay off in the end, that's what everyone always tells him.

He's in college getting his degree in psychology. He wants to be a counselor at the high school. He likes knowing that he's going to make a difference in people's lives.

Bella and Jacob are working very hard to make their relationship work. Between his constant trips to Tacoma, even though he is trying to get his bike shop up and running and Bella's need to call him twice a day just to hear his voice things were going as smooth as they can.

Bella crossed over the Port Angeles city limits as her phone rang. It was Jacob.

"Can you believe that in less than an hour I will see you? I can't wait to kiss you." she said answering the phone.

"That sounds great Bells, but what about Jake? And Paul will want to watch." Rachel said with a laugh.

"Why do you have Jake's phone?" Bella asked in embarrassment.

"Because mine is dead. Hey babe?" she called.

"Yeah?" Paul asked in the background.

"Don't you dare!" Bella threatened.

"Apparently I'm a hot wife. There's somebody else who wants to make out with me other than you." Rachel joked between fits of laughter.

"What?" Paul asked in a loud voice.

"Bella wants to make out with me, calm down." she said trying to control her laughter.

"What?" Jacob yelled.

"She thought I was you. She'll be here in less than an hour." she explained.

"Give me that." Jacob said taking the phone with her.

"I'm just glad that it was her and not Paul." Bella said, still embarrassed.

"Me too. So, you want to make out with me?" he asked huskily.

"More than you know. I miss you so much it hurts." she groaned.

"Can you meet me at my apartment?" he pleaded.

"My dad took the day off so that we could spend the day together. I'll come over tonight." she promised.

"So you're wanting to make out with me was your way of teasing me?" he accused.

"And me!" Paul added from the background.

"I promise you that we will make out all night if you want." she promised.

"I'm gonna want to do more than that." he said with a scoff.

"I'm looking forward to it." she said with a light laugh.

They talked for the rest of the ride to her dads. His truck wasn't out front making her wonder where he was. Jacob came from around the side of the house still on his phone.

"What did you do?" she asked slowly.

"I didn't do anything. My dad has your dad and Sue at the diner. He's keeping them there until I call him." he said in defense.

"This was his idea?" she asked endearingly.

Jacob nodded with a smile. Bella flung herself at him. He caught her, holding her tightly. She crushed her lips to his, making him moan.

"Where is mine?" Rachel asked from the porch.

Bella pulled away, looking over Jacob's shoulder.

"I did tell her that I wanted to kiss her. I can't back out of it." she reasoned

Jacob sat her down with a sigh. Bella crossed the yard to stand on the stairs in front of Rachel.

"I missed you Rach." she said with a smile.

"Lay one on me." Rachel demanded.

"Wait, I have to see it." Paul said from behind Rachel.

"Hey, Paul." she said with a light laugh.

"Hey." he said from the door.

Bella stood a few inches away from Rachel who was giving her a devilish grin.

"Should we give him what he wants?" Bella asked.

"We might as well." Rachel said indifferently.

Bella wrapped an arm around Rachel's neck before leaning in. At the last second she lifted her free hand and put it to Rachel's mouth. She kissed the back of her hand with a loud smack before pulling away.

"Was it good for you?" Bella mused.

"Baby girl that was awesome." Rachel said with a laugh.

"That's all you're gonna get Paul." Bella said with a shrug.

"We're gonna go." Rachel said pulling Paul towards his car that was down the street.

How had she missed that? Jacob made his way over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Ten minutes." she warned.

"Let's go upstairs." he suggested.

"Ten minutes Jake. We can't have sex in ten minutes." she reasoned.

"We can if we don't fool around first." he pointed out.

"Carry me?" she asked hopefully.

He picked her up in his arms, kicking the door shut behind him. Bella threw her head back in laughter as he raced up the stairs.

XXXX

Bella sat across from Hannah who had her feet propped up on her ottoman and her hands resting on her stomach. At seven and a half months pregnant Hannah was ready to have the kid pulled out of her. Emily breast fed Cassius on the couch, her breasts were covered by a blanket.

"I would never do that in front of anyone but Paul." Rachel said shaking her head.

"So when you have a baby it's going to live off of formula? What kind of doctor are you Rach?" Hannah asked.

"I'll use a breast pump and bottle feed the baby breast milk when I'm not home." she reasoned.

"I said that too. But as long as I can cover up it doesn't matter." Emily said with a shrug.

"I agree with Emily, as long as it's covered up it shouldn't matter. If the baby has to eat then he has to eat." Bella said.

"I heard that you and Rach made out yesterday." Hannah said wiggling her eyebrows.

"We sure did. Bella isn't a girl on girl virgin anymore." Rachel boasted.

"I put my hand in between us." Bella said rolling her eyes.

"Paul and Jake saw it." Rachel stated.

"I bet Paul got a kick out of it." Emily said with a laugh.

"He did. He's been waiting for that to happen for years. Seeing as he has a crush on Bella." she answered.

"I did not know that." Bella said with a laugh.

"Ever since he first saw you." Rachel said with a nod.

"No wonder Jake used to get mad when I would joke around with him. You hide it pretty well though." she complimented.

"It doesn't bother me. Just like my crush on Ryan Reynolds doesn't bother Paul. We know neither scenario will ever happen." she said waving her hand in dismissal.

"Never." Bella said with a shake of her head.

"So Jake doesn't talk about other girls?" Hannah asked.

"He mentioned Jessica Alba the other day."

"Jared likes her too." Kim said with a nod.

"What about you Bells? Who do you have a crush on?" Rachel asked.

"Christian Bale." she mused.

"Oh, that's a good one." Hannah said with a smile.

Nadine brought in the cake and it was served. This was the most laid back baby shower that Bella had ever been to. Hannah's first baby shower was filled with so much tension that no one would lighten up Emily hadn't wanted a baby shower for either baby. Angela had recently had a baby who Bella was now the Godmother of.

The fact that Hannah's mom wasn't there wasn't brought up. She had shut Hannah out after she and Embry had gotten married. She had never seen CJ, and odds were that she never would. It was her own decision, not Hannah's. Ryan had left home not long after he had graduated high school.

Hannah had decided that she would open presents after everything else was done. They had done the embarrassing baby shower games and Bella had won a gift certificate to the diner.

Twenty minutes later Hannah was opening presents. Rachel handed her one while Kim waited to write the person's name in the baby book.

"This is from Alice." Hannah said with a smile.

She opened the paper and pulled the lid from the box. Inside was a crotchet blue and white baby blanket.

"This is really nice." Hannah said running her hands over it.

"Alice made it herself." Bella boasted.

"You're kidding." Hannah said with a breathy laugh.

Bella shook her head as Rachel handed her another gift. It was from Emily. She had given Hannah a baby survival kit.

"Embry's going to be putting these socket covers on tonight." Hannah stated.

"I had a feeling that CJ still put things in sockets." Emily said with a small smile.

"He does." Hannah said in dismay.

The next gift was from Kim. Hannah was grateful for the gift card that Kim had given her. There were things that the baby needed that she hadn't thought to ask for. The next gift was from Rachel. It was a gift certificate for a spa in Seattle. She had given her the same gift when CJ had been born.

"This way, Embry is saddled with two instead of one." Rachel reasoned.

"And the whole Rez will help him, just like last time." Emily said in a reassuring voice.

The next gift was from Leah. She had sent the gift with Sue. She had gotten the baby three outfits, and a pair of baby booties. Bella's gift was next. It was a silver frame that had 'Baby's First Picture' inscribed at the bottom.

"I haven't gotten one of these for Noah yet. Thank you." Hannah said gratefully.

"I had a feeling. You forget to get one for CJ." Bella reminded her.

"It's the big things that I always forget." Hannah said with a laugh.

Bella got wrapped up in the excitement and laughter. Half an hour had passed before she realized it. Embry was pulling up when she stepped onto the porch. CJ jumped up and down in his car seat smiling broadly. He always did that whenever he saw Bella, Ryan and Leah because he never got to see them. He was the most excited to see Bella.

Embry opened the back door and CJ jumped out of the car.

"He can undue his car seat?" Bella asked as he ran across the yard.

"That's the first time it's ever happened." Embry stated.

CJ jumped into her arms as she knelt down to his level. He hugged her tightly as she stood with Embry's help.

"Like father, like son huh?" she teased giving Embry a smirk.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." he admonished.

Bella shook her head as CJ talked excitedly.

"Take a breath Ceej, she'll be here for a few days." Embry said with a laugh.

"You're staying with us?" he asked, his eyes lighting up with hope.

"One night, if it's okay with your mom and dad." Bella promised.

"We'll kidnap you eventually. We just have to get past Jake." Hannah said from inside.

Bella put CJ down after he kissed her on the cheek.

"See, he takes it to the next level. I'd deck you if you did that." Bella said to Embry as CJ opened the door.

"Bye Bella. I love you." he called over his shoulder.

"I love you too buddy."

"My turn." Embry said pulling her to him.

He wrapped her in a tight hug as she breathed him in.

"He makes me want one of my own. Just not yet." she said cautiously.

"You can have him." he stated.

"I would love it, but Jake would get scared after two days." she reasoned.

"CJ would love it too." he agreed.

"Let go of my girl." Jacob warned.

"We were talking about the two of you adopting CJ." Embry explained.

"Never gonna happen." Jacob said shaking his head.

"He's terrified of kids. Claire scares the living daylights out of him." Bella teased.

"CJ is the only kid he can stand to be around." Embry reasoned.

"I can hear you." Jacob said rolling his eyes.

"It's because he's the youngest of his family." Bella whispered.

"You're an only child." Jacob said with a laugh.

"That's why I'll be able to handle our kids better. I babysit for anybody that will let me." she reasoned with a shrug.

"She does." Embry said with a nod.

"That will change when we have kids. They'll be ours." Jacob said defending himself.

"I know it will. It had better." Bella warned, letting go of Embry.

"She's all yours."

"Oh, thank you." Jacob said sarcastically.

Bella walked down the stairs and into Jacob's arms. He held her tight, but not enough to strangle her. She rested her head on his chest as he kissed her forehead. She let him pull her to the car still in the position they were in. He opened the passenger door and motioned for her to get in.

"You're going to drive?" she asked.

"I love this car." he stated.

"So why don't you marry it?" she asked, rolling her eyes sarcastically.

"Because I am going to do something better than that, I'm going to marry the person who owns the car." he said before kissing her quickly.

"That does sound better." she said with a smile.

He shut her door and was around to the other side in less than a second. The car started with a rumble and a purr.

"Who keeps up with this car while you're in Tacoma?"

"Rose."

"She can work on cars?"

"She rebuilt the engine on her car a few weeks ago."

Jacob was silent as they pulled up to Charlie and Sue's half an hour later. The house had been added on to since they had gotten married three years ago. There were now two extra bedrooms. One for Leah and Ryan and one for Seth. Seth had moved out recently, he was taking classes at the junior college so that he could start his own business. Jacob had been the one to talk him into that, seeing as he had done it three years before.

Sue was sweeping the steps as Jacob and Bella got out of the car.

"You're early. Your dad isn't even home yet." she observed.

"I figured I would come and help." Bella answered.

"What about him?" she questioned, jerking her thumb at Jacob.

"We both know that he's a great food tester." Bella reasoned.

Sue gave Jacob a credulous look before nodding.

"Come on." she said walking back into the house.

It was tradition for them to eat as a family. Seth would come over after work, Charlie would pick up Billy on his way home from work and Jacob would come over after work. Bella being home made it a special occasion.


	2. A New Begining

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I'm just a fan who likes to write about it.**

**AN: Thank you for all of the positive feedback on this story. I am so glad that you all like it so much!**

**Warning: This chapter contains lemons. You know the drill, if you don't like it than you don't have to read it.**

Bella looked out over her graduating class. In less than an hour and a half she would be a college graduate. She shuffled the cards in front of her, nervous beyond belief. This was twice the size of her high school graduating class. She took a deep breath before gathering her courage.

"We stand on the verge of something amazing. Our whole lives lay ahead of us. What you choose to do will affect the rest of your life." she said as an opening to her speech.

Her valedictorian speech lasted less than two minutes. When she finished, she walked back to her seat to applause. Her eyes scanned the crowd of family members who were there to see their own family member graduate. She saw Renee first. She was multitasking, drying her eyes with one hand while she took pictures with the other.

Charlie and Phil sat next to each other which Bella thought that she would never see. Sue held Curtis up so that he could see Bella. Sue pointed Bella out to him and he blew her a kiss. It was crazy to think that she was an aunt. Four years ago she thought that it wouldn't happen until she got married.

Ryan, Leah, Rachel, Paul and Seth sat hunched together. When Bella saw them they each made a crazy face making her smile. She scanned the bottom row next.

Her eyes met Billy's first. He beamed with pride and she nodded in acknowledgment. Jacob sat next to him, holding her gaze the longest. They smiled as the Dean started calling names. It seemed like only seconds had passed but soon the person next to her was nudging her.

"They called your name." The guy said.

Bella walked to the stage and across the platform to the Dean.

"Congratulations, Miss Swan." he complimented her.

"Thank you, Dean Winchester." she said politely.

Bella took her seat again and half an hour later the ceremony was over. She made her way to Billy and Jacob as the rest of her family made their way through the crowd.

"Look." Billy said pointing off to the side.

Edward, Carlisle, Esme, Alice, and Jasper were walking towards them. She'd had no idea that they were coming. They stopped a few feet away.

"Congratulations Bella." Carlisle said warmly.

"Thank you." she said with a smile.

"Don't just stand there. Hug him before I do!" Alice said darting her eyes to Jacob.

Bella turned to face him with a smile.

"I guess I'd better do what she says." she said sounding indifferent.

She let Jacob pull her to him as she handed Billy her diploma. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he crushed her to him.

"Now this is a hug." she said with a smile.

"Share the wealth!" Alice said with a laugh.

"Only because you're annoying when you don't get what you want." Bella teased pulling away.

"And don't you forget it." Alice said taking Bella's place.

Everyone else came up to them and started talking at once.

"Edward!" Seth said excitedly.

"Hey Seth." he said with a smile.

"Where are Emmett and Rosalie?" Sue asked.

"They got to congratulate Bella last night." Esme said.

"And well into this morning." Bella said rolling her eyes.

"Bella's a party animal, who knew?" Rachel said teasingly.

"Renee, this is Esme, Alice, and Jasper. Everyone this is Renee and Phil." Carlisle said introducing his family.

"It's nice to meet all of you." Renee and Phil said.

"Belly!" Curtis said as he squirmed in Leah's arms.

"Come here big guy." she said holding out her arms for him.

She hugged him close, taking in his distinctive baby smell.

"Our daughter is a kid magnet." Charlie said to Renee.

"I've known that for years." she said endearingly.

Bella looked at Paul, who was standing off to the side. She handed Curtis to Sue before walking over to him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just feel out of place." he said indifferently.

"Why? I asked you to come." she asked with intrigue.

"I know. Graduations have never been my thing." he explained.

"I know, that's why I feel special." she reminded him.

"You should." he said with a scoff.

She nudged him with her elbow with a smile. The smile that he had been holding back finally spread across his face.

"Was that so hard?" she asked.

"Oh it almost killed me." he said sarcastically.

They both laughed as everyone else talked around them.

"Picture time." Esme said

"I don't wanna." Bella whined.

"You're telling Esme no? The world is going to end." Jasper said with a laugh.

"Only since it's Esme." she said with a sigh.

"Parents first." Esme decided.

Bella stood in between her parents with her arms draped over their shoulders.

"Are you two waiting for an invitation?" Bella asked Sue and Phil.

"I did say parents." Esme said with a smile.

Phil stood beside Renee and Sue stood on Charlie's other side.

"Now Bella and Jake."

Jacob stood behind Bella with his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin was resting on her shoulder. It was a classic Bella and Jacob pose.

"Rachel, Billy and Jake now. I don't have one of the three of you." she said politely.

Rachel wheeled Billy over and both Black children knelt down to Billy's level. Rachel rested her head on Billy's shoulder while Jacob rested an arm on his other shoulder.

She took one of Leah, Seth, Ryan and the baby next. After that she was able to talk Paul into taking one with Rachel. He didn't like having his picture taken at all.

XXXX

Bella rode back with Jacob. Everyone else piled into Charlie and Paul's cars. Jacob pulled into the parking deck of his apartment building without a word.

"Why are we here?" she enquired.

"I need to change." he stated.

"You have clothes at your dads." she reminded him.

"I'm not wearing my clothes that I work in. You can forget that." he said in disagreement.

She followed him to the elevator without a word. They stepped off on the second floor.

"You just wanted to bring me here so that you can talk me into staying." she observed.

"It wouldn't take much." he said putting his key in the lock.

As soon as they walked in Bella noticed something was different. She scanned the room quickly, finding her favorite blanket from home draped over the couch. The wolf picture that hung by her bedroom door was over Jacob's TV.

"Welcome home." Jacob whispered in her ear.

"I really live here?" she asked in disbelief.

"Surprise." he said with a laugh.

"This is the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me." Bella said as tears pricked her eyes.

"Bells don't cry." he said laughing again.

"They're happy tears, so shut up." she said smacking him in the chest with one hand while wiping her eyes with the other.

"Take a look around." he said tossing his keys on the coffee table.

"All of my stuff is here?" she questioned.

"Everything." he said with a nod.

"Thank you." she said wrapping her arms around his neck.

She kissed him slowly, running her fingers through his hair. He pulled away keeping her in place.

"Well if that's the thanks I get for this than I'll have to do nice stuff for you more often." he mused.

"Now that I think about it, I could use a shower." she said.

"I didn't even need to talk you into staying." he said with a shake of his head.

"Do you want to take one with me?" she asked suggestively.

"If I say yes, can we stay in tonight?" he asked hopefully.

"No." she said with a laugh.

"I'll take one anyway. Last one in washes the others back first." he said with a nod.

Bella pulled away from him before running down the hall. She pulled her clothes off as she ran. He was a couple of steps behind her as she reached the bathroom door. He turned her around, pulling her to him. Apparently he had undressed on the way too. That was why he hadn't able to catch her.

"This won't be the first time we've done it on a bathroom floor." she said breathlessly.

"We're getting in the shower. It will just take a few minutes." he stated.

"You really like seeing me naked, don't you?" she questioned.

"More than you know." he said huskily.

"You had better say that." she said with a mock glare.

She walked them backwards to the shower as his hands explored her body. She adjusted the water as his hands traveled lower. She pulled away to step in the shower and he closed the door after them. Neither heard her phone ring, then his a few minutes later. Their moans drowned out all other noise. They were only focused on each other.

XXXX

The ride to La Push an hour and a half later was filled with laughter and excited plans. They made up for lost time. Bella sat in the middle seat and laid her head on his shoulder. He draped an arm over her shoulders before kissing her temple.

"So was my moving in with you my graduation present?" she asked.

"Nope. You'll get it later." he stated.

"Why is it that you can't give me things in front of other people?" she questioned.

"This is important. You can wait." he answered, letting her know to let the subject go.

In the entire time that they had been together he had never given her a gift in front of others. Not even Christmas or birthday presents. It was his only weird quirk.

They drove up the steep hill to the bonfire site. They had never done that, they usually walked. He pulled to a stop under a fir tree. Bella got out, taking in the scene in front of her. Sam, Embry, Jared, and Paul built the woodpile while Quil and Ryan sat off to the side. Emily, Hannah, Kim, and Rachel sat not far away.

"What's going on? It's not even a Saturday." Bella asked in confusion.

"This is Quil's, Ryan's, and your graduation party." Rachel said as Bella stood with the girls.

"You all didn't need to do this. I thought that you only broke the first Saturday rule for twenty first birthdays."

"This is a special occasion. Three people close to us graduated from college this year." Emily said with a smile.

"So why wasn't there one for Jake, Embry, and Quil when they finished high school?"

"She said special, not Special Ed." Rachel said rolling her eyes.

Bella laughed as she sat down in between Hannah and Kim. Having the guys build the bonfire did have its advantages. Jacob's shirt was shed within five minutes of starting. Paul was next followed by Embry.

"Where's Leah?"

"She went shopping with her mom. They're getting stuff for tonight." Kim answered.

The music was turned on at nightfall. Someone had set up speakers in the far corner of the clearing and Seth was playing DJ. Sue pulled Charlie from his chair and they started dancing.

"Do you want to dance?" Quil asked from next to Bella.

"Sure." she said letting him pull her up.

"You wouldn't do this with Embry, would you?" he asked.

"Embry has two left feet." she said with a laugh.

He spun her around before catching her. She laughed as he dipped her dramatically. Jacob watched them with a smile. He was glad that everyone had welcomed Bella when they had first gotten together. He was proud of his two best friends for becoming her friends too. He knew Quil and Embry would do anything for her and that meant a lot to him.

"Can I cut in?" Renee asked coming to stand next to Bella and Quil.

Claire held onto her hand, looking up at Quil expectantly.

Quil took Claire while Bella put one hand on her mom's shoulder and slipped her free hand into her mom's. They hadn't done this in years.

"Hi baby." Renee said warmly.

"Hey mom." she said with a soft laugh.

"You have so many people who love you. Do you realize that?" she questioned.

"I know." Bella agreed wholeheartedly.

"I didn't have the kind of support system that you have when I was your age. It's been a long road, hasn't it?" she said sadly.

"I thought that I would never be done with school." Bella said with a dramatic sigh.

"I've been a good mom, right?" she prodded.

"Yeah." she agreed.

"I was never the PTA type, but you don't regret that, do you?" she asked with pleading eyes.

"No. What brought this on?" Bella asked in confusion.

"How do you feel about having another little brother or maybe a baby sister?" Renee asked with an impish grin.

"Mom that's amazing." she said with a breathless laugh.

"Phil and I have been talking about moving to Seattle." Renee announced.

"What about his baseball career?" she questioned.

"Honey he's thirty six, if he hasn't made it yet, he isn't going to." she said with a laugh.

They walked back to Phil arm in arm.

"Congratulations." Bella said with a smile.

"Thank you." he answered with a nod.

"For what?" Charlie asked.

"Mom's going to have a baby." Bella said proudly.

The woman in the crowd erupted in cheers and applause. They crowded around Renee as Bella stepped away. She saw Jacob leaning against a tree a few yards away. She made her way to him, not breaking eye contact.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"I figured I would let everybody else talk to you. I'll be talking to you for the rest of our lives. I'll be stuck to you like glue. I just hope that you don't get sick of me." he said earnestly.

"That will never happen." she promised shaking her head.

They stood side by side, shoulders touching taking everything in. It was hard to believe that everything that they had worked so hard for, sacrificed so much for was finally paying off.

XXXX

Jacob watched Bella as she readied for bed. He lay on the bed on his side with his head propped on his hand. She came to sit next to him once she had stripped down to her cami and underwear.

"I'm too excited to go to bed." she said bouncing up and down.

"I was like that my first night here. I kept thinking 'I wish that Bella was here to share this with me'." he admitted.

"I'm here now. What do you want to do?" she asked turning her head to look at him.

He pushed the strap of her cami off of her shoulder before pulling her to him. She rested her arms on either side of him as she leaned down to kiss him. He pulled her onto the bed completely and she lay on top of him. Her underwear was pushed down quickly and she pushed them down her legs with her feet before kicking them off. His fingers slipped into her folds seconds later.

He hissed in pleasure as she raked her nails down his chest. The kiss grew heated once she rocked against him making his fingers slip deeper inside of her.

"Condom." he mumbled against her lips.

She reached into the drawer and pulled a condom out of the box and ripped it open with her teeth. She slid it on him before guiding him into her. She sat up on her knees, rocking against him as he gripped her hips. The moon cast a glow on her, making her look ethereal.

"You're beautiful." he said running his fingers down her sides.

She smiled down at him as she pushed her hair out of her face. They had slept in the same bed only a couple of times in the past six months. Her dad had almost caught them when Bella had come home for Jacob's birthday. They had been leery of sleeping together ever since unless they knew that her dad wouldn't be around. They hadn't been able to sleep in the same bed in Tacoma either. Her roommate was a Jacob hater and made it clear that he wasn't wanted. Emmett had a habit of teasing Bella if they stayed with him so that was out of the question too.

He rolled them over gently, not breaking the pace that she had set. He leaned down brushing his fingers over her breast. He kissed each one before looking back up at her. He kept eye contact with her as he pulled out of her.

"Jake, no. I just want you inside me. I need you." she pleaded.

"Since you said it so nicely I can go without just once." he said with a smile.

"It's not that I don't like you going down on me, because I do. I love it actually, but not tonight." she said pulling him to her.

He cupped her breast in his hands, massaging them gently before entering her again. She leaned up to kiss him as she felt her orgasm fast approaching.

"Already?" he asked pulling away.

"What did you expect? Marathon sex our first night in a month?" she asked with an amused look.

"Yes." he said sullenly.

"Tomorrow night. I promise." she laughed.

Her orgasm racked through her, making her curl her toes in ecstasy.

"Perfect." she sighed before smiling dreamily.

He pumped into her a few more times before unloading his seed into the condom. He fell against her, their sweat slicked bodies sliding together. He put his forehead to hers as he let his weight fall on his arms.

"I love you." she whispered.

"How much?" he questioned.

"As big as the sun, the stars and the moon." she said with a smile.

That was what he always said to her. He smiled down at her before kissing her forehead. He pulled out of her before getting off the bed. He pulled off the condom and chucked into the trashcan by the bed before walking across the room. Bella lay on her side as Jacob searched through his drawers for something. She tried to look at what he had, but he had it balled in his fist. Whatever it was, it was small enough to fit in his hand.

He knelt on the floor beside her with his hands inches from hers.

"You know how we've always said that we would wait to get married until after we were both done with school and after we both had steady jobs?" he asked nervously.

"Yeah." she said slowly.

"How about if we were done with school and one of us has a steady job?" he offered.

"My graduation present is an engagement ring?" she asked with arched eyebrows.

He opened his hand and a blue Tiffany & Company box lay in his palm.

"Tiffany's? Seriously?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah." he said with a laugh.

Her eyes welled up with tears as he opened the box. Nestled inside was a white gold ring with a three quarter carat diamond with two smaller diamonds surrounding it.

"Jake, it's too much." she gushed.

"I'm not taking it back." he stated.

"It's beautiful." she said admiringly.

"So will you marry me?" he asked.

"Yes, I'll marry you." she said with a breathless laugh.

He grinned from ear to ear as he slid the ring on her finger.

"It fits. I was worried that it wouldn't." he said before heaving a sigh of relief.

"Please tell me that you didn't design it yourself." she asked with a sigh.

"I would, but I would be lying." he confirmed.

"Now I love it even more." she said lovingly.

"Just know that it almost depleted my back account." he stated.

"Are you trying to make me feel guilty?" she accused.

"No. You're worth it." he said kissing her nose.

Bella pulled him onto the bed and scooted over to give him room. They were both still too wired to sleep. He pulled her up and laid his arm where her head had been. She lay back down using his arm as a pillow.

"I want to call someone and tell them. I don't know who to call."

"It's after three Bells. Everybody is asleep."

"Not everybody."

She grabbed her phone and took a picture of the ring. She sent a text message and her phone rang thirty seconds later.

"Hello?"

"He finally asked you to marry him?" The person asked credulously.

"Yes Rosalie, he did." she stated proudly.

"She's the first person you told?" Jacob accused.

"Yes she is. I don't want to deal with Alice right now, and if I call Esme, Alice will find out." Bella answered logically.

"Tell him to quit barking." Rosalie said sarcastically.

"She said quit barking." she teased.

"Very funny, Barbie." he said rolling his eyes.

Bella's other line beeped and she pulled the phone away from her to see who it was.

"Great." she said with a huff.

"What?" Rosalie questioned.

"It's Alice." she answered with a sigh.

"Ignore it. Tell Jake to turn his phone off too. She'll call him next." she ordered.

"I can't share one thing with one of you without her finding out." she marveled.

"Try living with her for eighty years. I'm glad that Emmett and I moved away." Rosalie griped.

"That's so mean." Bella said with a light laugh.

"Don't get me wrong, I love her to death. But she can't keep things to herself."

Jacob's phone rang and Bella quickly grabbed it. It was Alice. She pressed ignore before turning it off. Her other line beeped again and she groaned in frustration. She clicked over with a growl.

"What?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"Don't ever answer your phone that way again." Charlie warned.

"Sorry Dad." she said with a sigh.

"Do you want to explain why I got a phone call at three in the morning from Alice? I couldn't understand her." he asked sleepily.

"She's lost her mind Dad. I'll explain it tomorrow." she explained.

"Now that I'm up I want to know now." he said impatiently.

"Jake and I are engaged Dad."

"The ring was all I could understand. It makes sense now. Congratulations Baby. I'm gonna try to go back to sleep." he said with a sigh.

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too Bells." he said before hanging up.

Bella clicked back over to hear Rosalie yelling at Emmett.

"Why would you do that? It wasn't funny!" she said harshly.

"What did he do?" Bella asked in confusion.

"Alice didn't have a vision. Emmett freaking called her." Rosalie said still seething.

"It's fine. It's over and done with. Plus I know that you'll yell at him better than I can." Bella observed.

"You're damn right I can!" she agreed.

"I'll let you go." Bella said with a light laugh.

Bella fell back against the pillows with a grunt. Jacob linked his hands with the one closest to him. She turned her head to face him with a lazy smile. He smiled back pulling her hand to his heart. The slow steady rhythm calmed her frazzled nerves, the way it always did.

She closed her eyes as she turned her whole body to face him. She was suddenly tired.

"Goodnight." he whispered.

"'Night." she said with a sigh.

He turned off his lamp before pulling the sheet over their naked bodies. He let go of her hand, draping an arm over her hip. He closed his eyes and was asleep less than a minute later. It had been a whirlwind of a day and they were finally coming down for a crash landing. They would sleep in tomorrow, turn off their phones and spend the day in bed. If anyone tried to bother them there would be hell to pay.

**AN2: I need a favor you guys. I am looking for this story that I thought I had put in my favorites and on my alert list but I can't find it anywhere. In the story Bella and Edward are married but they never slept together. Edward propositions Jacob. He wants him to sleep with him in hopes that Bella will get pregnant so she can have one more human memory before she is changed. In the story Jacob quotes eighties rock music in his head to keep people at bay. Please tell me that one of you knows which story I am talking about. I have been searching for it since Saturday to no avail.**


	3. A Day to End All Days

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. But I do own the OC characters that are in this chapter. They are mine, but if you would like to use them all I ask is that you ask me first. I would be happy to let you use them.**

**AN: I want to thank all of you for all of the positive feedback that you have given for this story. I cannot express how much it means to me. I just want to hug each and every one of you! Unless you're not a hugger, then a handshake would do.**

Bella stretched out in a lounge chair on her mom's deck. She and her mom were taking a much deserved break. Phil and Jacob were loading furniture into the U-Haul truck that they had rented. Renee shielded her eyes from the sun with her free hand before looking over at Bella.

"I can't believe you're engaged. It seems like only last year that you two started dating." Renee said in wonder.

"It's been a long six years Mom." Bella said with a light laugh.

"Most of them spent apart." Renee reminded her.

"I can't believe we made it." she said with a muted sigh.

"Believe it kid, that sparkler on your finger is proof." she teased.

Bella laughed before sitting up. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that her parents would live in the same state again. The three hour distance would have to be a safe distance. They got along fine in short intervals. When Renee had come for Bella's graduation Sue had let Renee and Phil stay in Bella's room. It was fine for Sue, but Charlie was so stressed by the time they left a week later that he wouldn't talk for days.

Jacob came to sit on the deck in between them. He twisted the cap off his water bottle before taking a long pull.

"I do appreciate you helping us Jake. Phil won't let me help much, and we both know that Bella is scrawny." Renee stated flippantly.

"Hey!" Bella said with a laugh.

"It's not a problem, I don't mind." Jacob said with an easy smile.

They were silent as Phil came to sit on the other side of Renee. Bella was glad that her mom had finally gotten her act together and settled down. Bella could remember being sucked into the frantic yet always exciting tornado that always seemed to follow Renee as a child. Her mom had calmed down not long after marrying Phil. That had let Bella know that it was finally okay for her to leave. Her mom was happy, which made Bella sigh with relief.

XXXX

Something wasn't right. She had thought that the lightheaded feeling would have gone away once she had eaten. That had been over an hour ago. She gripped the desk, clenching her eyes shut. She opened her eyes slowly, seeing four of the clock on the wall across from her.

Paul had warned her not to overdo it. She was working so much that they barely saw each other. They had only been married a month when she started working at the hospital. Things were still strained a month and a half later but not so tense that they didn't still fall into bed in a tangle of limbs every night. Hard as it was to believe, he kept her sane.

"Rachel?" One of the nurses asked.

"Yeah?" she answered in a cracked voice.

"Honey, you look pale. Sit down." The woman said leading her to a chair.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired." she said pulling away.

She spun around too fast and that was the last thing she remembered before blacking out. When she came to she was on a stretcher in the ER. She lifted her head, looking around in confusion.

"Lay down Dr. Miller. You hit your head pretty hard when you fell." A doctor warned her.

"What happened?" she asked weakly.

"How long have you had Diabetes?" she asked in concern.

"I don't." she said, confused.

The doctor wrote something on her chart before looking at her gravely.

"I'm going to start you on some prenatal vitamins." The doctor stated.

"What?" Rachel asked, raising her voice.

"You're almost three months pregnant. Do you always ignore what your body is telling you?" she asked.

Yes, she had a lot on her mind lately. She couldn't remember the last period she'd had. She had been complaining to Paul the other night about feeling sick. He had told her to make a doctor's appointment. Why hadn't she done it?

"Your husband is waiting outside to take you home." she informed her.

"You haven't told him, have you?" she asked, panicked.

"Yes, we needed his consent to administer to you." she acknowledged.

"Oh boy." she said under her breath.

The door opened and Paul stepped inside.

"I'll go get your discharge papers ready." The doctor said, rising from her chair.

Rachel didn't look at Paul until after the door clicked shut.

"I'm not mad. I won't even say that I asked you to get this checked out after this time. You scared the shit out of me Rachel." he said standing over her.

"I'm sorry." she said as a tear slid down her cheek.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"I'm not ready to be a mother. We wanted to wait until we had a safety net to have kids. Then I get pregnant the minute we get married." she sobbed.

"We'll handle it." he said brushing her hair out of her face.

He had always been better at hiding his emotions than she was. He rarely ever let his guard down. That was one of the things that had drawn her to him. He reminded her of her dad in that way.

The doctor came back in, shuffling papers as she walked. She looked at the two of them with a small smile.

"I've scheduled you an appointment with Dr. Weston for tomorrow at nine. You need to start taking these right now." she said handing Rachel a bottle of prenatal vitamins.

Rachel nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"You need to invest in a good diabetic testing device. I've supplied you with a list of ones that I recommend. You have type one diabetes Rachel, how could you not know that?" she reprimanded.

"I've been ignoring my body in that way for a while. I've had other things on my mind." she answered in a small voice.

"Well you don't have that luxury anymore." The doctor stated plainly.

Her cell phone rang from inside her purse. Paul grabbed it before going outside. He came back inside to hear the doctor tell Rachel that she needed to go home and rest. She got dressed before she asked him who was on the phone.

"That was Embry. Hannah's here, she's having the baby." he explained

"Well thank God we're already here." she said with a sigh.

"We're going home. You can see the baby tomorrow." he disagreed.

"I am not missing the birth of my Godson Paul." she said shaking her head defiantly.

"And I am not going to let you do anymore damage to yourself. We're going home, do not argue with me." he said taking her hand and leading her out of the room.

Rachel was silent the whole way home. She stormed into the house, slamming their bedroom door in his face. He sighed, deciding that right now was not the best time to argue with her. She had to see where he was coming from. She was carrying his child; he had every right to worry about her.

XXXX

Hannah sighed as she mentally counted to ten. The contraction faded as a nurse came into the room.

"Hi Mrs. Call, I'm Sasha, I'll be your nurse tonight. Is there anything that you need?" she asked politely.

"No one has told me where Dr. Miller is." Hannah stated.

"We have several that work here, which one are you looking for Honey?" she questioned.

"Dr. Rachel Miller."

"She works on the third floor. She's a sweet girl. Good sense of humor too. She got sent home early, something happened to her today." Sasha explained.

"Can you find my husband?" Hannah asked quickly.

"He's just outside. I'll ask him to come in." she promised.

"Thank you." Hannah said graciously.

Embry came in a minute later. Hannah gave him a venomous look before unleashing a string of curses at him. He was able to calm her down before the next contraction hit.

"What are you keeping from me?" she asked him accusingly.

"What are you talking about?" he asked innocently.

"Rachel, Embry. Where is she?" she demanded.

"She'll be here tomorrow." he said trying to keep her calm.

"Why isn't she here now?" she asked flatly.

"Her doctor told her that she had to go home and rest. She blacked out today. Paul said that she was out for a good ten minutes." he explained.

"Why?" Hannah asked in a panicked voice.

"Rachel has type one diabetes, she's also almost three months pregnant."

"And she didn't tell me?" she asked, hurt.

"She didn't know." he stated.

"God she is so stubborn." Hannah said before falling against the pillows.

"Is your melt down finished?" he questioned.

"No, but I'll save the rest for later. You should have told me." she reprimanded him.

"Paul asked me not to. He didn't want you to worry." he said in defense.

"Who did you find to watch Ceej?" she asked, changing the subject.

"He's with Sue and Charlie. Leah and Curtis are in town." he explained.

Hannah nodded, clenching her eyes shut again. Embry gripped her hands and she squeezed with everything she had. He moved his hand slowly, clenching and unclenching it once she was done.

"Did I break anything?" she asked.

"One of my knuckles." he said with a nod.

"Good." she said with a smug smile.

He gave her an even look before sighing. He hadn't liked keeping what was going on with Rachel from her. He had planned on telling her as soon as he found out, but there had been complications. The baby was fine but Hannah's blood pressure had shot up when someone had mentioned that her mom was out in the hall demanding to come inside. Hannah had finally put a stop to it by telling Embry to let Sharon come into the room.

Sue had called her, chewing her out for almost an hour. Sue had become a motherly figure for Hannah over the years. She had listened to Hannah, been her shoulder to cry on when Embry couldn't be. Leah, Seth, Bella, Emily, and Sam were right. Sue was a saint, but she wasn't someone that you wanted to mess with.

Someone knocked on the door, breaking the silence. Embry opened the door and Sharon walked in.

"I'll be outside." Embry said locking eyes with Hannah.

She nodded, giving him a small smile as he walked out. Sharon came to sit next to her, her hands folded in her lap. She was still wearing her nurse's scrubs.

"Hannah I know that I have never made things easy for you. I thought that you're getting pregnant was an act of rebellion at first. Then you got married without discussing it with me. Seeing her daughter get married is something that a mother lives for, and I had to find out about it from Ryan." she said sadly.

"So you shut me out? Mom, that's really harsh." Hannah scoffed.

"It kills me to know how much I hurt you. Ryan still gives me pictures of your son. He looks like Embry." she praised.

"You can't even say his name?" she asked with a sigh.

"That's because I don't know it. Your brothers and Leah refuse to tell me his name." she said smiling sadly.

"Colten Jeremiah, CJ. This one's name is going to be Noah Michael."

"Jeremiah and Michael after your father." Sharon said in a monotone voice.

"Yes." Hannah said in a clipped tone.

The machines that Hannah was hooked up to started to beep erratically. Sharon sprung from her chair to check the readouts. Hannah screamed in pain as the worst contraction yet racked through her.

"You haven't had an epidural yet?" Sharon asked giving her a grave look.

"I wanted to have him naturally. It's how I did it the first time." she answered in protest.

"You're a brave girl." Sasha said standing next to Sharon.

Embry entered the room at the same time as the doctor. He cast Sharon a curious look before looking at Hannah. She shook her head, giving him a look that told him to let it go. The doctor checked Hannah's progress before smiling.

"Well, it's time to push." The doctor stated.

Embry came to stand beside Hannah holding her foot with one hand, her hand with the other. She screamed again, the doctor yelling over her, pleading with her to push.

"Come on baby, you can do it." Embry said encouragingly.

Hannah locked eyes with him once the contraction was over. He let go of her hand, brushing his fingers over her forehead. She smiled at him before leaning into the touch.

"Okay Hannah, one more big push and his head will be out." Sasha encouraged.

"Come on Hannah honey, I want to see my new grand baby." Sharon said as she squeezed Hannah's other hand.

Hannah pushed with everything she had, feeling fire spread through her stomach.

"He has a full head of hair." Sharon said with a laugh.

Noah was pulled out of her completely less than a minute later. Sasha took him from the doctor and gently wiped him clean before placing him in Hannah's arms.

"Call Sue, I wanna talk to CJ." Hannah said as happy tears flowed down her cheeks.

Embry quickly pulled out his phone, dialing Sue's number without taking his off of Hannah and Noah.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Any news?" Sue asked hopefully

"Put CJ on, I want to tell him first." he replied.

"Sure. CJ, your dad is on the phone."

Embry passed the phone to Hannah as she handed him the baby.

"Hello?"

"Hi baby." Hannah greeted him endearingly.

"Mom!" he said excitedly.

"You're a big brother." she said with a breathless laugh.

"I am? Sweet!" he exclaimed.

"I can't wait for you to see him." Hannah said with a happy sigh.

"When are you coming home?" CJ asked in concern.

"Tomorrow night. I love you."

"I love you too." he said happily.

Hannah handed the phone to Embry so that he could talk to CJ. He handed the baby to Sharon, who smiled with gratitude.

"Hello. You are gorgeous. You look just like your momma when she was born." she said affectionately.

"You should go get your mom and Quil." Hannah stated.

Quil Sr. had died not long after CJ was born. He had been run over by a drunk driver as he walked home from work late one night. No one had seen the girl who hit him coming. She had been on her way home from a party on First Beach. Now the girl was in juvenile detention for the next two years, never to likely forget what had happened.

Quil and Nadine came into the room a few seconds later. Quil hung in the back while Nadine and Sharon flanked Hannah.

"You look like hell." Quil said as he nudged Embry.

"Let's see how great you look after not sleeping for forty eight hours." Embry said darkly.

"Seriously?" Quil asked credulously.

"She had fake contractions all night the other night. The real contractions started just as were about to go to bed last night." he explained.

"Quil leave him alone. You know how he gets when he's tired." Hannah said.

"I'd say something, but our moms are in the room." Embry said with a tight lipped smile.

"I can't wait to hear it later." she joked with a laugh.

"And that one gets hyper when she's tired. Don't you two ever fight?" Quil asked.

"We make sure that it doesn't happen." Embry said with a laugh of his own.

"You should call Jake. Bella already knows, I asked her not to tell him." Hannah said.

Embry and Quil went back out into the hall. Sam, Emily, and Leah took up a couch. All three of them were fast asleep. Emily sat at one end with her head on Sam's shoulder while Leah laid her head on the arm rest. Quil sat across from them as Embry made his way to the elevators. It was stifling hot in Hannah's room and he needed some fresh air.

He sat on a bench by the main entrance as Rachel and Paul walked up to him. Paul went inside but Rachel sat down next to Embry.

"How's it going?" she asked, giving him a questioning look.

"Great. I just needed some air. I'm getting ready to call Jake." he explained.

"Great, you can tell him that I'm pregnant." she stated.

"He's not going to care. It's been five years. They get along now." he pointed out.

"Yes, they do. But this is different. Paul is eternally tied to our family now." she said rationally.

"He's been tied to your family since he imprinted on you." Embry said laughing.

"Will you please just tell him?" Rachel asked, giving him doe eyes.

"Fine." he said, giving in.

"Thank you." she said hugging him.

She kissed his cheek before letting go. He watched her walk through the sliding doors as he waited for Jacob to pick up.

"Yeah?" Jacob questioned.

"Where are you?"

"We just left her mom's half an hour ago. Why?" he asked credulously.

"Hannah had the baby. What do you think of that Unk Jake?" Embry asked.

"Why did you just call me that?" he asked with a laugh.

"I have a feeling that is what Rachel and Paul's kid is going to call you since that's what Bec's kids call you." he explained.

"What?" he asked as he stopped laughing.

"What's going on?" Bella asked in the background.

"Rachel's pregnant." Jacob stated, letting the news sink in.

"You okay?" Embry asked.

"Why didn't they tell me?" he asked.

"Rachel was scared to tell you." he answered.

"She thinks that I still hate Paul." Jacob acknowledged.

"No. She just didn't want to give you a reason to hate him again." Embry pointed out.

"We'll be there later." he promised.

The talked for a few more minutes before Nadine came outside.

"The doctor said that Hannah and the baby can go home in the morning. CJ got to talk to Sharon a few minutes ago. She's going by the Swans to see him later." she explained.

Embry nodded, letting the news sink in. He was glad that Sharon was willing to get to know the boys. He was even more glad that Hannah wasn't holding a grudge against her. He was worried that she would do that. He should have known that he didn't need to worry.

**AN2: I want to thank the two people who were kind enough to point me towards the story that I was looking for thank you, Shell and everyturnasurprise. You guys are awesome!**


	4. When One Door Closes Another One Opens

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I'm just a fan who writes about its characters.**

**AN: I want to take a minute to tell you guys about an amazing writer. Her user name is laylalovestwilight and she beta's one of my other stories. She is very patient and for only being fourteen she is amazingly talented. I am becoming a better writer because of her help. I don't know what I would do without her.**

Bella stood in front of the bathroom mirror curling her hair. Jacob turned off the shower once she was finally done. She was looking for her glass bead and pearl necklace when he came into the room. She caught sight of him in the mirror above the dresser. His towel was falling as he grabbed clothes from the closet. She smiled as he grabbed the towel just before it fell.

The necklace was laying over her jewelry box at the other end of the dresser next to Jacob's watch. She reached for it as he reached for his watch. She kissed his cheek before slipping the necklace over her head.

"What time do you have to be there?"

"Nine."

"I don't have to be at work until ten. I can give you a ride in, then you can call me when you get off."

"That sounds like a plan," she said smiling at him.

She smoothed her vest down, wishing that the nerves in her stomach would go away. She knew it was because this was her first day at a new job. Her first job since graduating college. Her English Lit professor had sent a very nice recommendation letter.

"Are you nervous?"

"A little."

"I was too when I first opened the shop," he said wrapping his arms around her waist.

His bike shop had been open for six months and it was finally starting to take in a profit. She leaned against him, resting her head against his shoulder. He kissed her neck gently, brushing her hair away. Bella looked down at his watch realizing that it was quarter after eight.

"I'm going to be late," she whispered.

He stepped away, going to sit on the bed so that he could put on his boots. Bella watched him affectionately, wondering how they had made it this far. They had been through so much. More than any couple should have to go through. Now that things had settled down, it seemed too perfect. She was waiting for someone to wake her up and tell her that she had been dreaming.

"You ready?" he asked, standing from the bed.

She nodded, pulling herself from her thoughts. He gave her a once over as he held the front door open for her.

"Are you going to have to dress like that every day?" he asked, his voice thick with lust.

"If I want to be taken seriously. Why?"

"I've never seen you wear heels before."

"They're boots Jake. If you want, you can take them off of me later."

"Promise?" he asked with an evil smile.

"Yes, Jake. I promise," she said with a smile of her own.

"Can I take this off too?" he asked running a finger over the vest.

It clung a little too close to her curves. She knew he would say something about it.

"You can take off whatever you want," she said as she stared up at him from under her eyelashes.

"Christ, that sounds good," he said with a groan.

She pulled him towards the elevator, waiting patiently for it to open. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in once it opened. She wrapped an arm around his waist before lying her head on his shoulder.

They walked that way through the parking deck. Everyone that passed by them would smile or say good morning. The only reply they would give was a nod of acknowledgment in return. Once they were at the Charger Jacob opened her door for her. The car started with its usual rumble, something Jacob could never get enough of.

They were in front of Bella's work twenty minutes later. He turned towards her as she undid her seat belt. She looked over at him with curious eyes.

"Knock 'em dead."

That was his way of saying good luck. He said it to everyone.

"Thank you," she said with a sigh.

They both leaned in, meeting in the middle seat. The kiss was gentle and sweet, it lasted less than thirty seconds. It was what she needed to settle her nerves.

XXXX

Rachel sat across from the Chief of Staff, letting what he had just said sink in. They were letting her go. All the hard work and money that she had put into becoming a doctor was being thrown out the window. She understood the hospital's reason for laying her off, but it still stung. She was a liability, they didn't want to risk her endangering herself any more than she already had.

"We'll pay you until the end of the month. That should give you some time to find another, less strenuous job," he said with a sympathetic smile.

She didn't want his pity, she wanted her job back! She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Thank you Dr. Roberts."

He dismissed her and she went into the locker room to gather her things. Michelle, her favorite intern, and confidant was changing when she walked in. Rachel grabbed an empty medical supply box from behind the door before walking to her locker.

"They let you go? That's bullshit!"

"That's what I was thinking," Rachel said sadly.

"Yeah? Well they can't do anything to me," Michelle said crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm gonna miss you," Rachel said with a sigh.

Michelle closed her locker before walking over to Rachel. She wrapped her arms around her back, pulling her to her.

"You'll still come in. I mean, you have to. You'll have doctor's appointments. And you don't plan on having this kid at home do you?"

"No way," she said with a laugh.

"Then you'll be around for at least the next six months. After that, we'll take it from there."

Rachel nodded, knowing that her friend was right. This wasn't the end of the world. She could find work somewhere else. Her life had revolved around taking care of the people that she cared most about for so long that she didn't know where to go from here.

She sat in the car parked out front of her house for a good five minutes. Paul was at work but she could see her dad's truck parked out front of his house up the street. She hadn't wanted to move off the reservation, luckily Paul hadn't either. She liked the idea of being just a few minutes away from her dad, just in case he needed her.

She walked into the house and saw the message light blinking. She pressed play, hearing Paul's voice.

"I was hoping to catch you before you left. I think I might have left the shed door open. I'll call Seth and ask him to check it."

The message was only a few minutes old. She looked out the back door, seeing the shed shut and locked. He must have forgotten that she had to go in early this morning. She picked up the phone and dialed his number.

"What are you doing home? I forgot that you had to go in early."

"I lost my job," she said with a sigh.

"Do you want me to come home?" he asked in concern.

"No. I can manage until you get home," she answered forlornly.

"Was the shed locked?"

"Yeah."

"I left in a hurry, I couldn't remember. Are you sure that you don't want me there?" he asked again.

"I need to process it. That means there's going to be a lot of tears. The living room will be rearranged."

"I don't want you rearranging the furniture," he disagreed.

"I have to get out my anger somehow and crying alone isn't going to cut it," she said with a huff.

"Think of something else," he said with a sigh

She talked to him for a few more minutes before someone knocked on the door. She opened the door to see Billy outside. Seth's truck was pulling out of the driveway.

"What are you doing home in the middle of the day?"

"I lost my job," she said with a shrug.

"Are you going to let me in? Or are we going to talk out here?"

She stepped back, opening the door wider so that he could pass. She walked into the living room and Billy followed her. She sat in the recliner and he sat in front of her.

"You knew this was going to happen," he said honestly.

"After it first happened, yes, but it's been almost two weeks," she reasoned.

"Maybe they wanted to see how you would handle things."

"I've been handling things fine. Other than being tired, and running to the bathroom twice an hour to throw up I haven't had any problems," she reassured him.

"That's your opinion. Maybe they see things differently."

"I don't know what I'm going to do," she said as tears stung her eyes.

"You'll figure it out. You always do," he encouraged her.

"My life has revolved around being a doctor since mom died. I want to help people."

"There has to be something else that you've wanted to do."

"I can't think of anything," she said shaking her head sadly.

"What about photography? You've always liked taking pictures."

"It reminds me too much of mom," she said shaking her head sadly.

"Maybe that's a good thing. I think that she'd be proud of you for following in her footsteps."

Her dad had a point. She did like taking pictures. It was the only thing that let her clear her head of everything. It was something to think about.

XXXX

Bella sat on the couch with Jacob's head in her lap. She slowly ran her fingers through his hair. His eyes were closed, but a small smile tugged at his lips. After an hour in the bedroom he had claimed that he was starving. Dinner was in the oven while he watched TV and she went over stuff for work.

Her boss was nothing like Sandra Bullock or Meryl Streep. She was surprised to find out how nice she was. Bella wasn't her only assistant so all of the work wouldn't fall on her. Plus, she would get advanced copies of whatever books the company published. That was worth taking the job alone.

Her bath robe slid down her shoulder, exposing the hallow of her neck. She looked down at Jacob, feeling him watching her. He was staring at the exposed skin with lust in his eyes.

"I don't think we have time for round three before dinner," she said with a smirk.

"You know me so well," he said with a groan.

She pulled the silk fabric back up before going back to what she was doing. He pulled it back down, but she ignored him.

"Are you almost done?"

"I should be done before dinner, if you leave me alone."

She grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels.

"Look, Dog the Bounty Hunter is on. You like Leland."

He took her free hand in his as he got lost in the show. She finished what she was doing as the credits rolled.

"Up, I need to check on dinner," she said pushing him.

He got up and followed her into the kitchen. He set a glass of wine in front of her and a bottle of beer at his place.

She doled out mashed potatoes while he cut and served the meatloaf. It was like they were already married. Rachel and Emily had told her that this would happen. It was like looking into the future. If this was their future, she could die happy.


	5. A Little Help Never Hurt Anyone

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. But I do own the OC characters from this chapter. Including CJ, who is modeled after no one in particular.**

Bella tapped her pen nervously on the edge of her desk. The people in cubicles around her gave her curious looks. She cradled her phone between her shoulder and ear while she typed one handed. The clumsy girl who had left for college had come home a multitasker. Rosalie had made sure of that. Even with Emmett's constant mocking it had been worth it to be able to say goodbye to the girl she used to know.

Someone picked up the phone, seconds later it clattered to the floor.

"Hello?" Renee asked groggily.

"Hey, mom, I didn't realize that you were sleeping."

"It's all I ever do lately," she said with a laugh.

"How are you?"

"Good, other than my feet and back hurting."

"What did the doctor say?"

"She said that I need to stay off of my feet. Just for a few days. It's frustrating, you know me, when someone tells me not do something I do it anyway. Phil's threatening to tie me to a chair," she said with a laugh.

"I was going to ask you if you wanted to do something with me this weekend."

"What did you have in mind?" Renee asked, intrigued.

"I was going to go dress shopping."

"Oh honey, I'd love to go."

"What about your feet and your back?"

"Nothing could keep me from coming with you," she said with determination.

"Well, take it easy until then, okay?"

"I will, I love you," Renee promised.

"I love you too mom."

Bella hung up a minute later. She talked to her mom a lot more since she had moved back to Washington. They talked every other day and Bella had gone to see her a few weeks ago. It was nice to have her mom close by again.

XXXX

Seth was pushing his cart while looking down at his phone. Leah had just sent him a text and he was answering her back. He crashed into another cart, almost knocking a display of paper towels over. He looked up in surprise, already apologizing.

"It's okay," A girl said.

He was quiet as he helped her pick things up. She couldn't be any older than ten. That was when he saw the little boy sitting in the cart.

"Hi," The little boy said.

"Hey," Seth said with a smile.

"I think that's everything," The girl said as she stood upright.

"I'm four," The little boy said, holding up four pudgy fingers.

"You are?" Seth asked.

"Uh huh. I'm Conner. What's your name?"

"My name is Seth."

A woman and an older girl came walking up to them.

"Carly, what happened?" The woman asked.

"It was my fault ma'am. I wasn't paying attention."

"His name is Seth," Conner said looking at the woman.

"Amanda, will you take your brother and sister to the front of the store?"

"Yes ma'am."

That was when Seth finally noticed her. He had only glanced at her when she walked up. His pulse quickened and he felt everything tilt on its side. The girl stared at him with curious eyes. Her blond hair was pulled into a pony tail, and her light blue eyes wouldn't break contact with his.

"Amanda?" Her mom asked, getting her attention.

"Come on Carly."

Their mother headed in the opposite direction. As Amanda turned the corner at the end of the aisle she turned to look back at him. She smiled before disappearing out of sight. He had lost his chance to talk to her.

He pushed his cart down the aisle with a sigh. If it was meant to be; which it was, they would see each other again. Hopefully her mom wouldn't be with her. She seemed nice enough, but he knew that she wouldn't understand what had just happened. Especially considering that Amanda wasn't eighteen, or anywhere near it.

XXXX

Embry opened the freezer and refrigerator doors at the same time. Somewhere in there, there had to be something that he could make for dinner. Hannah hadn't taken anything out to thaw, and CJ claimed that he was starving. Now that Embry thought about it, so was he. He shut the doors dejectedly. CJ sat at the kitchen table bouncing Noah in his bouncy seat.

"Did you find anything?" CJ asked, not looking away from the baby.

"Not yet buddy."

CJ groaned before putting his head on the table. Embry watched him from the corner of his eye. He picked up the phone with a sigh.

"Pizza or Chinese?" he questioned.

"Pizza," CJ said excitedly.

Embry called in the order while finding Noah something to eat. He made a bowl of rice cereal and grabbed a spoon from the drawer. At two months Noah was an opinionated baby. He let you know what he did and didn't like.

Embry sat down in front of Noah spooning a small amount of food into his mouth. The baby quickly spit it out.

"Did you put water in it?" CJ asked from next to him.

Embry looked over at him in confusion before nodding. CJ looked down at the bowl before scrunching his nose up at the sight of the lumpy cereal.

"Not enough."

"How do you know how much it takes?" Embry asked credulously.

"Mom told me," he stated plainly.

His five year old son knew how to take care of his baby brother and yet he didn't. He carried the bowl to the sink and held the bowl underneath the water for a few seconds.

"You have to check it," CJ said after Embry turned off the water.

He stirred it, taking out the lumps. CJ looked at him expectantly as he walked back to the table.

"It looks okay now."

CJ looked at the mixture again and nodded his approval.

"Round two," Embry said as he spooned food onto the spoon again.

The baby swallowed it and smiled a gummy smile. Embry heaved a sigh of relief before falling against the back of the chair.

"When is mom coming home?" CJ asked as Embry gave Noah another spoonful.

"In an hour and you have to take a bath after dinner."

"Aww Dad!" CJ whined.

"No whining. School starts tomorrow. Do you want to be known as the kid who stinks?"

"Yeah," he said with a wide grin.

Embry laughed as he shook his head.

"You're taking a bath," Embry repeated again in a firm voice.

"Can Noah take one with me?"

"I guess. You've got to be careful though."

CJ nodded as Embry gave Noah the last bite. Someone knocked on the door and Embry stood from the table.

"Can you clean him up?"

"Yes sir," CJ said hopping down from his chair.

Half an hour later the boys were in the bath tub, Noah in his baby tub when Hannah came home. She stood at the bathroom door watching Embry gently rinse soap out of Noah's hair.

"You're home early," Embry said over his shoulder.

"Everyone was in a hurry to get home before the storm came through."

"Dinner's in the oven."

"You've got this under control?"

"Yep, go eat."

He came into the kitchen with Noah in his arms ten minutes later. He heated up a bottle before sitting down next to her.

"We're missing someone."

"He's brushing his teeth."

Hannah nodded as she continued to eat. He rubbed the bottle nipple across Noah's bottom lip until he took it.

"Did they give you any trouble?"

"Nope. They were good."

Noah sleepily drank his bottle while they talked. CJ came to sit on the other side of Hannah a few minutes later. Hannah looked at the three of them as she put her plate in the dish washer. She was the luckiest woman in the world. She had a wonderful, supportive husband and two of the most gorgeous boys on the planet. Life didn't get much better.

XXXX

Jacob knocked on the door, not seeing Paul's truck in the yard. Rachel opened the door rubbing her back.

"Hey," she said tiredly.

"Hey. Dad said you needed help with something."

"And of course he called the kid repellant. Remind me to thank him later," she grumbled.

The sound of retching came from the bathroom making him stop in his tracks.

"I can't go in there. I cannot get sick Jake," she said in a pleading voice.

"Who is it?"

"Claire."

"Oh God." he said as he opened the bathroom door.

"You are such a wuss."

"Why didn't you call Quil?"

"Quil can't get sick either. He'd run the risk of getting the whole high school sick. You'll be better in the morning. Suck it up!" she said impatiently.

"Have you called her parents?"

"They're on their way."

Claire's little sister and brother called for Rachel from the living room. Jacob shut the bathroom door as Rachel walked back to the living room. He turned to look down at Claire. The poor kid looked miserable. Her face was white as a sheet and she had sweated through her clothes.

"Hey kid."

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Do you want some water?"

"Yes please," she said with a nod.

He grabbed a paper cup from the counter and filled it with water. She guzzled it before handing it back to him.

"More please," she said looking up at him with doe eyes.

Someone knocked on the door and Jacob opened it.

"Hey, Jake," Claire's mom said.

"Hey, Natalia."

"Thank you for taking care of her."

"All I did was give her some water," he said with a shrug.

"Still, I appreciate it. What do you say Claire Bear?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Natalia and the kids were gone less than a minute later. Jacob walked into the living room to see Rachel spread out on the couch. Her eyes were closed and one hand rested on her protruding stomach.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm never watching those three again."

"That bad?" he asked.

"All the younger two did was scream at each other. And Claire was sick, and yet her mom brought her over anyway. I charged her double," she stated, rubbing her stomach.

"Does that kid have a name yet?"

"Joseph Avery."

"Joseph Avery Miller?"

"Joe."

"You're naming him after Gramps?"

"You have the option of naming your son after dad," she said with a shrug.

He pulled her feet up then sat next to her. Her feet slipped into his lap on their own accord.

"Don't expect me to give you a foot rub," he deadpanned.

"Then you shouldn't have sat there," she said pointedly.

"Paul will be home soon. I didn't want to sit in his seat."

"I'm waiting," she said, rolling her eyes.

He gently rubbed her feet, not because he wanted to, but because he felt sorry for her. She was stuck at home by herself all day, with nothing to occupy her time. Paul had just painted one of the spare rooms a shade of mint green. It was the color that Rachel had picked out. She would start decorating the room soon.

"Have you heard back about that loan?"

She had recently applied for a loan to start her own business.

"Not yet, I hope I will soon."

"What will you do if you don't get it?"

"Dad offered to give me the money," she answered honestly.

Jacob nodded as the front door opened. He picked up her feet again before standing.

"I should go."

"Just because Paul came home?" she asked in confusion.

"I've got to get Bella."

"Bring her by here. I miss my girlfriend," she said with a dreamy smile.

"Maybe this weekend," he said with a laugh.

"Give me a hug," she said reaching up to him.

He leaned over her, brushing his fingers over her forehead. He smiled down at her and she returned the smile.

"Do you promise that you'll come by on Saturday?"

"I will come by on Saturday."

"And you'll bring Bella?" she questioned.

"Bella will be here too."

"You're the best little brother in the world," she said, smiling endearingly at him.

"Can I tell dad that you said that?"

"If you do I'll deny it."

"Then it'll be our little secret," he said with a wink.

He stood then walked out of the room. Paul was in the kitchen washing his hands.

"I'll see you Saturday," Jacob said as he opened the front door.

"See you later," Paul said over his shoulder.

Paul walked into the living room a few seconds later. Rachel looked over at him with curious eyes. He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was from the company that she had asked for a loan from. She took it from him and ripped it open. She didn't care, she was impatient.

The letter shook because her hands were shaking.

"We got it."

She sat up, and Paul sat where she had been sitting. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him.

"I love you," he said with a smile.

"I love you too," she said as she laid her head on his shoulder.

They sat in silence, taking everything in. It wasn't every day that things worked out for them. They had made it through to the other side and were looking forward to seeing what the future held.


	6. Every Girl Knows Stella

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. But, I do wish that I owned the dress described in this chapter. It is not a Stella McCartney, but it is beautiful. I hope that my wedding dress is just as beautiful. I saw it in the mall during the Holidays. I wish that I had taken a picture of it.**

They had gone to two stores, plus a consignment shop and Bella still hadn't found a dress. At least not the one that took her breath away and let her know that she had found 'the one'. Renee had been trailing behind her for the past five minutes so Bella decided that it was time for a break.

"We should stop somewhere and get something to eat," Bella said, letting her mom catch up with her.

Renee nodded and pulled her purse back up onto her shoulder. Bella hooked an arm though her moms and helped her into a cafe.

"You stay here. What do you want?"

"I'll have whatever you're having."

"I'll be right back."

She felt guilty for making her mom walk so much. She hadn't planned on it taking this long. She had heard stories of woman who had bought the first dress they tried on. She should have known that she wasn't going to get that lucky.

"That is a beautiful engagement ring," The woman behind her in line said.

"Thank you," Bella said with a smile.

"Is it a Cartier?"

"No, it's a Tiffany's."

"Even better, have you set a date yet?"

"No, we've only been engaged a few months. I want to at least find a dress first."

"That's a good idea," The woman agreed.

"It seemed like it at the time."

"Have you been to Jessie's Boutique?"

"I've never heard of it."

"It's not well known. It's at the end of the block. Tell Jessie that Erica sent you," she offered.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Here's my card. Call me if you need help with anything else," Erica said reaching into her purse.

Bella looked down at the card as she moved up in line. Erica was a wedding planner.

"I don't think that I can afford a wedding planner," Bella said apologetically.

"That doesn't mean that you can't call me for advice. I know every flower vender, every caterer; I have the number of every banquet hall from here to California."

"Well, thank you again," Bella said with a smile.

Renee took the card from Bella once she sat down. She looked at it with scrutiny as Bella set a chicken salad sandwich in front of her. She put a straw in her ice tea as Renee set the card down.

"So are you going to hire her?"

"I don't have the money mom. And you and dad aren't paying for it either. She told me about a bridal shop at the end of the block."

They talked while they ate and were soon standing in front of the shop. Bella sighed as she said a silent prayer. She opened the door and let her mom go in first.

"Have a seat," she said pointing to a row of chairs by the window.

"Can I help you?" A woman with silver hair and rhinestone encrusted glasses asked as she came from the back of the store.

"I'm just looking," Bella said as she shook her head.

"Let me know if you need anything," The woman said with a smile.

"Thank you."

Bella was going through racks near the back of the store and still hadn't found anything. She looked towards the back of the store with a sigh, scanning the dresses that were in glass cases. Her breath hitched as one caught her eye.

The bodice was form fitting, while the skirt flowed out in a way that reminded her of Cinderella's ball gown. The skirt had tiny white beads all over it. This was the one.

Bella walked to the front of the store, trying to hide her excitement. She didn't want to get her hopes up. The dress might not even fit.

"Excuse me?" she said as she walked up to the counter.

Renee looked up from the magazine she was reading.

"Yes?" The woman asked as she smiled.

"The dresses that are in the display cases in the back, are they for sale?"

"Yes ma'am. They are our one of a kind dresses. Which one did you have in mind?"

"The satin one with the fitted bodice and beading on the skirt."

"That's our Stella McCartney."

"Really?" Renee said as her eyebrows shot up.

"How much is it?" Bella asked.

"It's fifteen hundred."

"I wasn't planning on spending more than seven hundred," Bella said, looking crest fallen.

"I'll buy it for you," Renee answered quickly.

"Mom, I can't ask you to do that. I haven't even tried it on."

"You're a size one, am I right?"

"Yes."

"Come with me," The woman said from behind the counter.

Bella followed the woman and heard Renee get up.

"Stay there," Bella said putting up a hand to stop her.

"Come out here so I can see you."

She nodded as the woman opened a changing room door for her. She sat down on the seat with her head in her hands. She couldn't let her mom pay for the dress. She would just have to cut back on something else. The door opened again and the woman gently hung the dress on the door.

"I can close it in the back if you'd like."

"Thank you."

Bella undressed down to her bra and underwear while the woman turned around. Luckily, she was wearing a strapless bra. The woman helped her step into the dress, and then smoothed it down. She adjusted the back as Bella looked in the mirror. The dress hugged her body in all the right places.

"Let's go show your sister."

"She's not my sister, she's my mother," Bella said with a shake of her head.

"Oh! I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You aren't the first person to think that," she said laughing lightly.

As they walked through the store Bella held the skirt lightly so that she wouldn't step on it. Renee cried as Bella stood in the middle of the room.

"These damn hormones, I can't control them," she said with a watery laugh.

Bella laughed as tears of her own fell.

"I'll take it."

Renee reached for her purse as she wiped away tears.

"Mom, I've got it. I'll just cut back on something else."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive," she said with a nod.

"Let's get you changed. You can bring the dress up with you. I'll have a garment bag ready."

"Thank you. I am so glad that someone told me about your store. I didn't know that it was here," Bella said with a laugh.

"Did you hear about me from a client?"

"No, from Erica, I met her just before we came in."

"She is a doll. She is always sending me business," she said as she pulled the clamps from the dress.

Bella quickly dressed and found Renee and Jessie talking at the counter. Jessie took the dress from Bella as she dug through her purse. Jessie placed a book in front of her, handing her a pen.

"Would you sign my book? I have all of my customers sign it. It's so that I can send them a thank you card."

"Sure," Bella signed the book as Jessie rung her up.

They were walking to the car ten minutes later. Bella listened as Renee talked excitedly.

"I can't believe that you have a Stella McCartney. I am so jealous!"

"I can't believe it either. I thought her dresses were supposed to be expensive."

"I did too. Honey, you are going to look so beautiful."

"Thank you for coming with me. I know that I didn't make it easy on you. You didn't complain once."

"This is something that every mother lives for. I would have come with you even if I was eight months pregnant."

"How's the baby doing?"

"Your baby sister is just fine. Aren't you Bianca?" Renee asked, rubbing her stomach affectionately.

They drove back to Renee's and talked about other plans. Maybe if things went smoothly, she and Jacob could be married by next spring. It was something to hope for.

XXXX

Seth sat at the counter, waiting for his order. He didn't usually come in here, but he was hungry and this had been the first place that he had come to. Someone sat next to him, making him look over.

It was Amanda. He looked through the diner to see if her mother was there.

"Hey," she said when he looked at her again.

"Hey," he said with a smile.

"I don't remember your name," she said with a small laugh.

"It's Seth," he said still smiling.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty. How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

Seth nodded, taking the knowledge in. So she was younger than he thought. That was okay, he could live with that. He had been waiting five years for this to happen, he could wait four more.

He thought that he would never imprint. Since it had happened, Amanda was all he had thought about. Jacob and Leah had told him that would happen.

"I've never seen you in here before," Amanda said, getting his attention.

"I don't come in very often. Not without my mom or step dad."

"Here you go Seth," The waitress said as she placed a bag in front of him.

"Thanks Coral," he said as he paid her.

"Tell your mom and Charlie I said hi."

"I will."

"Is Charlie your step dad?"

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"Where's your real dad?"

"He died when I was fifteen."

Amanda gave him a sympathetic look as he looked down at his hands. No one had asked about his dad in years. There weren't many people that didn't know about what had happened.

She grabbed a pen from beside the register then took hold of his hand.

"I don't normally do this. My mom would freak out. But this is my cell number."

She wrote it quickly before looking over her shoulder. Seth turned to see what she was staring at. A table of teenage girls quickly averted their gazes as he smiled in greeting.

"You should get back to your friends."

"Can I have your number?"

He wrote his number on the back of the receipt then handed it to her. She walked back to her friends as he stood from his stool. His back was to them as he walked out of the diner. But if he had turned around, he would have seen them staring at him.

"He is so cute!" One of her friends gushed once he was outside.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Another asked.

"I know, right? No Izzy, he's not my boyfriend."

"Can he be mine?"

"Amanda called him first!" Izzy said with a laugh.

"He's just a friend. He's too old for me."

"How old is he?"

"Twenty."

"No. Way."

Amanda nodded, letting her thoughts drift to Seth. What did he see in her? She was six years younger than him and he was way too gorgeous to give her the time of day. She hoped that he would call her. Her cousin Jessica had told her that guys should be the one to call first, even if they had given you their number. Jessica lived in New York now, but when she had lived in Forks she had been like an older sister to her. She could be ditzy at times, but Amanda saw her for who she really was. Jessica was just looking for a guy who loved her, flaws and all.

Amanda's phone rang, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Is it him?"

"No, it's my mom," she said sadly, she had hoped that it would be Seth.

She opened her phone as everyone at the table quieted down.

"Hey, mom," she said with a sigh.

"I can't come and get you. But Jessica is in town, so I asked her to pick you up."

"Okay," she said trying to hold her excitement in.

"I'll see you soon."

Jessica came in a few minutes later. She stopped to talk to someone she knew as Coral brought the girls their check.

"Jessica Stanley, is that you?" Coral asked in a teasing manner.

"Hey, Coral," Jessica said with a smile.

Amanda paid her part of the bill before walking over to Jessica.

"You ready to go?" Jessica asked, draping an arm over Amanda's shoulders.

"Yeah," Amanda said with a nod.

They were almost to the door when Izzy called Amanda's name. She walked up to her holding out a piece of paper.

"You forgot this."

It was the receipt with Seth's number on it. She took it and shoved it into her pocket.

"See you late," she said before walking out of the diner.

"So, whose number did you get today?"

"Some guy. We're friends."

"Just friends?" she teased, shoving her playfully.

"He's too old for me," Amanda said sadly.

"How old is he, seventeen?"

"Older."

"Older? Eighteen?"

Amanda shook her head as she bit her bottom lip.

"Nineteen?"

She shook her head again.

"Twenty?"

"Please don't tell my mom," she said with a pleading look.

"How did this happen?" Jessica asked cautiously.

"I've only seen him one other time. Mom, Conner, and Carly met him."

"Did you meet him here?"

"No. He came in after I did. You have to trust me, he's a nice guy," Amanda said with pleading eyes.

"They always are in the beginning," Jessica said as she rolled her eyes.

"Coral knows him," she reassured her.

"What's his name?"

"Seth."

"Seth what?"

"I don't know his last name."

"Get in the car; I'm going to talk to Coral."

Jessica was inside for at least five minutes. She waited until after she started the car to say anything.

"His last name is Clearwater. He's Chief Swan's step son. I went to school with his step sister. So what Coral wasn't able to tell me I can find out from her. Do not talk to him until I tell you to."

"I won't," Amanda promised.

The rest of the ride home was quiet. Jessica dropped her off to an empty house. She walked into the kitchen to see a note on the message board.

_There's some left__over chicken if you get __hungry. We should be home by ten. Love, Mom_

This gave her some time to collect her thoughts. Yes, he was cute, but did she like Seth? She had only talked to him once. Her friends thought he was okay, even if they were basing that on his looks. They were great judges of character.

XXXX

Jacob flipped through a magazine while Bella got ready. They were already late but he liked the idea of making Rachel wait. He and his dad used to have to wait for her; it was time for a little payback.

"Okay, I'm ready," Bella said as she stood next to the couch.

"Are you sure you didn't forget anything?"

"Yes. Let's go," she said taking the magazine from him.

She sat it on the table as he stood. They walked down the hall to the elevator hand in hand. The ride to La Push was quiet except for the radio. One of the first things that Jacob had done when Bella came home from college was install a satellite radio in the car. He didn't like the silence any more than she did.

Billy was pushing himself up the street with Quil walking beside him when Jacob and Bella pulled into Rachel and Paul's yard. Jacob went to meet them while Bella walked up the stairs to a waiting Paul. He hugged her tightly as she stood in front of him.

"You never hug me. What's going on?"

He shrugged with a sly smile.

"He's trying to push my buttons. He's been doing it for the past hour."

"So I'm a pawn now?"

"A very pretty one," Rachel said from the living room.

Bella walked into the living room seeing Rachel with a magazine resting on her stomach.

"I know, I'm huge," she said rolling her eyes.

"Believe it or not, my mom is bigger."

"She's almost a month farther along than I am."

"I'm trying to make you feel better," Bella said with a laugh.

"Keep talking," Rachel said patting the seat next to her.

Rachel's feet rested on the coffee table in front of her as her dad rolled himself into the room.

"Hey baby," he said with a warm smile.

"Hey, Dad," she said after kissing his cheek.

"How's Joe?"

"He's fine, kicking up a storm."

"Have you had any trouble?"

"Not since yesterday."

Rachel's insulin level had been up and down for nearly a month. She was checking her blood sugar twice as much, which left her tired and exhausted. She wasn't able to stand for longer than five minutes without feeling dizzy.

Jacob came into the room standing behind his sister. He gave her a shoulder massage while she talked to their dad. Billy looked up at him a few minutes later.

"Is Paul out back?" Jacob questioned.

"He's got steaks on the grill," Rachel confirmed.

"We should go out there and leave these two alone," Billy cautioned.

"After he gets the kink out of my neck," Rachel disagreed.

Billy pushed himself out of the room and through the kitchen. Jacob worked on Rachel's neck for another minute before she sighed in contentment.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Now get out," she said pointedly.

"I'm going," he said over his shoulder.

Bella waited until the back door closed before turning to face Rachel.

"You found a dress, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Bella said, nodding her head excitedly.

"Tell me everything," Rachel asked, turning her upper body to face her.

"It's a one of a kind Stella McCartney."

"Shut up," Rachel said as her mouth hung open.

"I'm serious. My mom and I went to three different stores before I found it."

"What does it look like?"

"It has a fitted bodice, and a full length skirt. It's satin and has beads everywhere on the skirt."

"Was it expensive?"

"Hell yes. I paid eight hundred dollars more than I had planned on, but I'll worry about it later. My mom took pictures of me with it on," she said sliding her phone open.

She handed the phone to Rachel and Rachel's eyes welled up with tears.

"You look beautiful," she said wiping her eyes.

"I have something that I want to ask you."

"What's that?"

"Would you be the photographer for the wedding?"

"I'd love to."

"I would pay you whatever you want."

"I'll do it for free."

"I can't ask you to do that," Bella said with a laugh.

"You didn't, I offered. I was going to ask you if I could anyway. It was going to be my wedding present to you."

"Thank you," Bella said hugging her.

"You're welcome," Rachel said rubbing her back.

The back door opened and the guys could be heard in the kitchen. Bella's phone rang, making Rachel toss it back to her. It was Jessica.

"Hey Jess."

"Do you have a few minutes?"

"Sure."

"Can you go somewhere to be alone?" she asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I'll be right back," she said to Rachel as she stood.

"Hurry back," Rachel called after her.

She was on the front porch a few seconds later.

"Okay, what's up?"

"I'm going to tell you something. I'm only doing this because I want what's best for my cousin," Jessica said seriously.

"Okay," Bella said with a nervous laugh.

"She gave her phone number to your step brother today and he gave her his."

"What's wrong with that?"

"She's fourteen. It was the only time they've talked. She knows better than to do something like that. I wanted to make sure that he wasn't a child molester or something."

"Seth's a good guy. I don't know why he would do that. But I can assure you that he isn't a child molester. He's still a virgin," Bella defended.

"Tell me about him."

"He's sweet, and funny. He's very trust worthy. He wouldn't hurt a fly. I've never seen him raise his hand in anger, and I've known him since he was a baby."

"So I can trust him?"

"Absolutely," Bella said vehemently.

"She said that she just wanted to be friends with him. Then she went on and on about how cute he was."

"He is good looking."

"You had better be talking about me," Jacob said from behind her.

"Geez Jake! No, I'm talking about Seth."

"Well fine," he said with a huff.

Jessica's laughter came over the line, getting Bella's attention.

"So did I answer all of your questions?"

"Yeah, go back to your hot fiancée," she teased.

"He is pretty hot."

"Now you had better be talking about me," he said in a mock threatening voice.

"I am. Jessica thinks you're hot too."

"I always knew you were smart Jess," he said after taking the phone from Bella.

"I'll let you two go," she said with a laugh.

He shut the phone without a word. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she looked up at him.

"So you think I'm hot, huh?"

"That and other things too," she said with a smile.

"Like what?"

"You're funny, and nice. You're patient, and did I mention sexy?"

"No, you didn't," he said with a smile.

"Well, you are."

"You really know how to stroke a guy's ego. Do you know that?"

"I try," she said with a shrug.

He laughed lightly before hugging her as hard as he could. She looked up at him with a smile.

"I forgot to mention that you're smart."

"Smart enough to ask you to marry me," he countered.

"That's right," she said as her smile widened.

He brushed his lips to hers not wanting someone inside to walk out and see them. His sister and dad were known for mocking their constant need for contact. Embry, Hannah, Sam, and Emily were the only ones who understood.


	7. Why Wait

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I do own the original characters in this chapter. They are mine. You may use them as long as you ask first.**

Jacob watched her sleep. He loved moments like this. Everything was quiet, tranquil, and he had time to collect his thoughts. He smiled as she sighed in her sleep. It was then that he had an idea. He slipped out of bed and out of the room without a sound.

Bella came into the kitchen half an hour later while he read the newspaper. She sat next to him once she had made herself a cup of coffee. She slid her feet into his lap as she read the Metro section. He rubbed her feet gently as he continued to read.

They both set their papers down at the same time. He looked over at her as she looked at him.

"What do you have planned for today?"

"Rachel and I are going to look at possible churches for the wedding. Then I thought I'd go over to my dad's and help Sue get ready for tonight."

He nodded as he pulled her feet from his lap. He walked over to the sink to rinse out his cup with his back to her. She came to stand behind him, setting her cup on the counter. Her hands traveled up his bare back before grazing his shoulders. She pressed herself against him as she leaned up to whisper in his ear.

"I love you."

"I love you too," he said with a smile.

She kissed behind his ear while she massaged his shoulders. He let out a content sigh.

"I've been thinking," he said.

"That can't be good," she said as she continued to work on his shoulders.

"What if we got married sooner rather than later?"

"When did you have in mind?"

"This fall," he answered.

"That's less than two weeks away," she said with a laugh.

"You've got most of it planned, right?"

"We haven't even found invitations, or a minister. There are at least half a dozen other things that need to be done."

"What if Rachel or your mom helped?"

"I guess we could make it work."

"Then let's set a date."

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I just want us to be married," he said with a shrug.

"I can't say no to that," she said with a smile.

"The first Saturday in October?" he asked hopefully.

"What day is that?" she asked reaching for his phone.

She pulled up his calendar and scrolled to October. October eighth was less than a month away. If they were going to get married that soon than they had their work cut out for them. She shut the phone as he turned in her arms. She smiled up at him as he leaned down.

He pressed his lips to hers with very little force. Her fingers threaded into his hair as his tongue slipped passed her lips. The kiss lasted another minute before he pulled away.

"Are you hungry?"

"Am I hungry?" she asked with a laugh.

"It's a yes or no question Bells," he said rolling his eyes.

"I could eat," she said with a nod.

"Go get in the shower. I'll make breakfast."

"Shouldn't I be nearby with the fire extinguisher?"

"Ha, ha, ha. Go," he said smacking her butt.

"You keep doing that and we just might stay in bed all day," she called over her shoulder.

"Can't, I've gotta go to work," he called just before she shut the bathroom door.

When she got out ten minutes later the smell of bacon wafted down the hall. In the bedroom she was looking for something to wear when Jacob came into the room. She was wearing only a bra and underwear as he came to sit on the bed.

"Is breakfast ready?"

"In a few minutes, I just came back to watch you get dressed."

"You should really stay in there. Something might burn," she said as she pulled on a pair of jeans.

"I've got it under control. Don't worry," he said with a laugh.

She pulled a t-shirt out of the dresser before walking out of the room. She pulled it on as she walked down the hall. In the kitchen the table was set and a plate of bacon sat on the counter. A bowl of eggs sat next to the stove. He put bread in the toaster before pouring the egg mixture into a pan.

She sat on the counter beside him chewing on a piece of bacon. He scrambled the eggs and a minute later they were done. The toast popped up as he was spooning eggs onto their plates. He grabbed the toast and bacon, bringing them to the table.

They talked while they ate and ten minutes later Bella was getting ready to leave. She was slipping on a pair of flip flops as he walked into the living room. He pulled her to him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Have a good day," she said looking up at him.

"You too," he said before leaning down.

The kiss was brief but it was sweet. He opened the door for her and leaned out the door watching her. A door across hall opened and the teenage girls that lived there came out. They looked at Jacob quickly before darting their eyes away. Bella bit her lip to keep from smiling. She was used to the looks he got. As long as they didn't touch, she didn't care.

"Morning girls," he called as they walked to the elevator.

"Good morning Jake." They said.

Bella and the girls got into the elevator a few seconds later. Jacob waved as the door closed. Bella waved quickly, finally cracking a smile. She really was the luckiest woman in the world.

XXXX

Bella and Rachel sat in Bella's car staring at the church. The minister was running late, so they took the extra time to take in the outside of the church.

The church held special meaning. Not only had Jacob and Rachel's parents been married there, but so had Rachel and Paul. Bella had recently found out that her parents had been married there as well. It only held sixty people, but Bella and Jacob didn't plan on inviting that many people to the wedding.

The church itself was small; it was a typical country church. The bell in the steeple only rang now for weddings and funerals. The white paneling and black steeple were welcoming and all together perfect. A car pulled up a few feet away and the girls got out.

"Rachel Miller, pregnant already?" The minister teased.

"Pretty much since we said 'I do'," she said with a smile.

"Hi Reverend Marshall," Bella said with a smile of her own.

"Hi, Bella. How about we go inside? It's getting pretty windy out here."

Inside Bella explained the new developments.

"That's very soon," Reverend Marshall said as he looked through a book.

"I understand if there isn't an opening on that day. But I would love to have it here."

"What about Jake?" Rachel asked.

"He doesn't know yet. I wanted to surprise him."

"The eighth is yours."

"Really?" Bella asked with a breathless laugh.

"You'll need to come in for marriage counseling. But other than that you're set."

"I'll get back to you about when we can come in. Thank you so much," she said shaking his hand.

Bella and Rachel sat in the car letting everything sink in.

"I can't believe how easy that was. We were in there for less than fifteen minutes."

"That's because it was meant to happen. Now, I have an errand that I need to run."

"Where to?" Bella asked as she started the car.

"The nearest crafts store. I need computer paper, unless you don't want pictures for your wedding."

They were walking through a crafts store half an hour later when something caught Bella's eye. In a corner, there was a display of make your own wedding invitations.

"I'll be right back," she said, walking away.

The selection wasn't big, but they were all nice. Her eyes scanned one shelf than the next before one set caught her eye. The cream colored paper had caught her attention first. Then the beautiful calligraphic writing had drawn her in. The picture at the top had made her decide to buy them. She made her way back to Rachel who was standing in line.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"You aren't going to believe it," she said handing her the box.

"Oh my God. Is that…"

"A black swan? Yeah," Bella answered with a light laugh.

"Bells, they're perfect," she said as she handed them back.

"I've taken care of three things for the wedding today alone. I'm hoping that I can talk Jake into going ring shopping tomorrow."

"It's about time things started going your way. You two have had it harder than Paul and I have."

"Once all of this is over I can lay back and take it easy."

"Unless you get pregnant right away like I did."

"I hope not," she said with a laugh.

"I hope so too. My blockhead of a brother isn't ready for kids."

"Trust me, I know."

They were back at Rachel's a little while later. Bella dropped her off deciding to head over to her dads. She knew that Sue was going to need all the help she could get.

XXXX

By the time Jacob got to Charlie and Sue's everyone was there. He found Embry and Quil in the backyard helping Seth set up a horse shoe game. Hannah, Rachel, and Emily were at the patio table peeling vegetables. He said hi to them first then waved to Embry, Quil, and Seth.

Inside Charlie was getting the hamburgers, hot dogs, and steaks ready to go outside. Sue stood next to him making potato salad. Bella was at the counter, chopping the vegetables that Hannah had brought in for a salad. He stole a piece of carrot before she could put it in the bowl. She kissed his cheek before going back to what she was doing.

"How did it go today?"

"Good. We got the church, hired a minister, and found invitations."

"See? You were worried that it couldn't be done."

"You and I need to go ring shopping."

"Already ahead of you, I have them already," he said proudly.

"Since when?" she questioned skeptically.

"I've had them for a while," he said before grabbing another carrot.

"Will you help me with the invitations?"

"What do you need me to do?"

"Address and send them out. I can do everything else."

"I'll work on it tomorrow," he said as he popped another carrot into his mouth.

"If you don't stop eating them, there won't be any left," she said with a laugh.

He kissed her quickly before walking out of the room. Bella went back to what she was doing. Sue looked over at her with a smile.

"I appreciate you coming over early to help clean."

"It's not a problem. I was happy to help."

"If you need help with anything, just let me know."

"If you can talk my dad into letting us have the reception here that would be great."

"I'll see what I can do," she said with a wink.

Bella finished and went outside. She sat next to Leah, who held Curtis in her lap. He reached out to Bella with purple Popsicle stained fingers.

"No," Leah said pulling him back.

She cleaned him up before he reached for Bella again. She took him, smiling as he gave her his usual wide smile.

"How are things going?"

"Pretty fast actually. We set the date this morning. Then I knocked three more things off the list. And two more have been knocked off since I got here."

"When is it?" Emily asked.

"October eighth."

"Why so soon?"

"It was Jake's idea. He's getting impatient."

"That's not like him," Emily said with a laugh.

"I like the idea of it only being three weeks away."

"Less time to panic," Emily said with a smile.

"Yeah," Bella agreed.

"Do you know who you want to be in the wedding?" Leah asked.

"I was thinking of the four of you. Maybe Kim, but she probably won't be able to."

"She wouldn't be able to because of school," Emily said with a shake of her head.

"And Alice and Rosalie," Bella added.

"That's a good idea."

"Okay, that's six. That's enough, isn't it?"

"That's more than enough. Let's hope that Jake can come up with six off the top of his head," Rachel said.

"Would you two mind if CJ and Cassie were the ring bearer and flower girl?"

"Sure," Hannah said with a nod.

"It's okay with me," Emily said.

"That's two more things taken care of," Bella said shaking her head in wonder.

"I can make the dresses," Mae said from a few feet away.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure. Come by sometime this week and we'll talk about it."

"Thank you," Bella said appreciatively.

"You're welcome Sweetheart."

Bella fell back against her chair. Her head was swimming with everything that had happened that day. Everything was falling into place so quickly that she couldn't keep up. It had taken Rachel six months to plan her wedding. For Sue it had been over a year. Her mom had eloped; she'd gone to California for the weekend and came home married. She said to this day that she wished that Bella could have been there.

She was brought out of her reverie by Curtis' laughter. His hands were over his face, waiting for her to react.

"Where did Curtis go?"

He peeked at her through his fingers, giving her a smile.

"Has anybody seen Curtis?" she asked.

"He must have run off." Leah said as she tickled his stomach.

He laughed before pulling his hands away.

"Boo!" he said with a smile.

"Oh! You scared me," Bella said tickling him.

"He could do that for hours," Leah said with a smile.

"That's what's so great about babies. Everything is funny to them," Emily said as Cassius stirred in her arms.

He started to fuss so she took him inside. Rachel looked over Bella's shoulder in confusion and Bella turned to see what she was looking at. Jessica and a teenage girl were standing just outside the door. She waved them over before turning around. Rachel was now staring at her.

"That's my friend Jessica and her cousin Amanda. I invited them."

"Why?"

"I'm surprised Seth hasn't said anything. He imprinted a few weeks ago."

"You're kidding, on which one?" Leah asked.

"Amanda, as you can see; she's a little young."

"You didn't tell Seth that you invited her?" she asked.

"I wanted it to be a surprise. He's only seen her once since it happened."

Jessica sat down next to Bella while Amanda stood behind her. Hannah stood letting Amanda know that she could have her seat.

"He's noticed her," Rachel said as Seth came jogging over.

"Hey," he said with a smile.

"Hey," Amanda said with a wave.

"Seth! It's your turn," Sam called.

"I'll be right back."

"Okay," Amanda said with a nervous laugh.

The girls introduced themselves to Amanda and Jessica while Bella watched Seth. He wasn't paying attention to what he was doing and nearly hit Quil in the arm with a horse shoe. Bella hid her smile behind her hand as he quickly apologized then threw his arm back again.

He came back less than a minute later. Bella gave him her seat and Jessica traded seats with Amanda so that she could sit next to him. They got wrapped up in conversation as Bella, Leah, and Jessica tried not to eaves drop. Rachel rolled her eyes before tapping Bella on the shoulder. Bella turned to look at her with a curious look.

"You don't need to worry, he's not a kid," she whispered.

"But she is."

"I'm pretty sure that Seth knows that. Why don't the four of us go inside and get something to drink?" she asked the last question loud enough to get the other two's attention.

Jessica stood to go with them but Leah stayed where she was.

"Leah?" Rachel asked.

"I'm good."

"Then you can come inside and keep us company."

Leah looked up and her eyes met Rachel's. She sighed before getting up. The four of them were inside a few minutes later.

"Okay Bells, why didn't you tell anyone about this?" Rachel asked.

"I told Jake. It wasn't our place to tell."

"Not even me?" Leah asked.

"Seth asked me not to. He said he was going to do it."

"How old is she anyway?" Rachel asked.

"Fourteen," Jessica said with a sigh.

"I understand that you're worried about your cousin. But that is my little brother, and he could get in serious trouble if something goes wrong," Leah said with an agitated voice.

"Leah take it easy. He knows not to do anything stupid, and Jessica wouldn't have brought Amanda over if she didn't trust him. Am I right?" Rachel asked.

"Right," Jessica confirmed with a nod.

Emily walked over to them, noticing the hostile way that Leah was standing.

"What's going on?"

Bella explained what had happened and Emily handed Cassius off to Rachel. She pulled Leah up the stairs without a word.

"I'm really sorry," Bella said once they were gone.

"It's okay. I understand," Jessica said brushing it off.

Jacob came through the backdoor as they stood at the kitchen counter. He walked over wrapping an arm around Jessica's waist.

"Hey you," she said wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I met Amanda."

"She's a good kid, right?"

"She seems like it. Seth was very respectful."

"He'd better be. No offense," she said looking at Bella.

"It's cool. I understand."

"It's gonna be okay," he said squeezing Jessica.

"Can I get that in writing?" she joked.

"You'll have to talk to Seth about that," he said with a laugh.

Bella smiled; glad that the mood had been lightened. Jacob had that effect on people. It was one of the many things that she liked about him.

XXXX

Jessica stood by her car with Bella while Seth and Amanda said goodbye by his truck.

"What is it about La Push guys? First Jake, then Quil and Embry, and now Seth. Is there something in the water?"

"I don't know."

"And the guys around back; hello!" Jessica said with a laugh.

"They're all taken," Bella said with a smile.

"You can't blame a girl for trying," she said with a shrug.

Bella laughed and soon so was Jessica. Amanda waved bye to Seth and came to stand with them a few minutes later.

"It was nice to meet you Amanda."

"You too. Thank you for inviting me."

"You're welcome."

"I'll call you later," Jessica said as she opened her door.

Bella nodded as they got into the car. She stood in the yard watching them leave. A pair of arms wrapped around her waist as the car drove out of sight. Seth rested his chin on her shoulder as she turned her head to look at him.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"So, what do you think?"

"She seems nice. I deem her worthy of dating you once she is old enough."

He smiled before squeezing her. She patted his arm before he let go. Another set of arms encircled her waist a few seconds later.

"Well darn, I was hoping Paul would be next," she said, knowing who it was.

"That's not funny," Jacob said with a scoff.

"I wasn't trying to be."

"Brat," he said playfully digging his fingers into her sides.

"Well then maybe you should stop spoiling me."

"I don't ever see that happening," he said kissing the top of her head.

"Mae's making the dresses."

"I asked Quil to be my best man."

"How many guys are there?"

"Six, including Quil."

"Who did you ask?"

"Quil, Embry, Sam, Paul, Seth, and Emmett."

"Emmett? Okay," she said with an unsure laugh.

They walked to the car a few seconds later. He opened her door for her before getting in. She slid across the sat as he started the car. He rested his arm on the back of the seat so that she could get closer. She rested her head on his shoulder as he pulled out of the driveway. In less than a month they would be married. It was hard to believe that it was going to be so soon. Neither of them could wait.


	8. Suddenly Everone Wants to be Me

**Disclaimer:**

**Paul: Donna doesn't own Twilight. I was thought up by the brilliant Stephenie Meyers. Although, Donna is brilliant in her own right.**

**Me: I just might up you to my second favorite wolf.**

**Jacob: Hey!**

**M: I can have a tie for second.**

Jacob was at the kitchen table going over paperwork when someone knocked on the door. If it had been Bella she would have walked right in, so would anyone from the pack. He opened the door hearing a loud shriek. The next thing he knew the person was throwing all of their weight at him. For someone so small, Alice nearly knocked them both into the coffee table. He held onto her as she looked up at him with bright eyes.

"It's good to see you too," he said with a laugh.

"I had a vision of Bella calling me. You two set a date?"

"Last Saturday."

"She's going to ask me to be her maid of honor," she said excitedly.

"Well, congratulations," he said with a smile.

"So I came down to see what I could do to help. I hope you don't mind."

"No, I don't."

"You're the best Jake!" she said before kissing his cheek.

He grabbed her bags before showing her to the extra bedroom. She was unpacking and he was starting dinner when Bella came in forty-five minutes later. She was able to get her jacket and shoes off before Alice pulled her to her.

"You had a vision, didn't you?" she asked with a sigh.

"Yes, and I would love to be your maid of honor."

"Good, thank you," she said with a sigh.

"I don't see Rosalie saying yes though. She has a valid reason, but you might want to call her."

"I'll call her later. Thanks for the warning," she said as they walked into the kitchen arm in arm.

"Since when does he cook?"

"He tries. It doesn't always work out."

"I can hear the two of you," he said with his back still turned.

"Then we'll go in the other room," Alice said before walking out.

"I'll be right there."

"Go tell him hello. I won't watch," Alice said teasingly.

Jacob turned around as she made her way across the room. When she was within arm's reach he reached out for her. She walked into his arms laying her head on his chest.

"Long day?"

"I thought that it would never end. The meeting ran two hours late. So I had to stay and help finish everything for the book launch next week."

"So that's why you're three hours late."

"I was going to call after the meeting. Then Shannon sprung everything on me and Daniel."

"It's fine. I understand."

"You're the best," she said with a sigh.

"You aren't the first person to tell me that today," he said as he ran his fingers through her hair.

She stared up at him with questioning eyes.

"It was Alice, don't worry."

"I guess I can let it slide then."

He smiled down at her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She leaned up on her toes to kiss him lightly. She pulled away still leaning against him.

"What did you do today?"

"I went and rented a tux."

"You actually did what I asked you to do? I thought that I was going to have to take you myself. You get another kiss for that," she said before kissing him again.

Her fingers threaded into his hair as his tongue past her lips. His hands rested on her hips as he led them towards the counter. The pot on the stove boiled over, making him pull away.

"I've got this, go change," he said as he turned down the heat.

She leaned up to kiss him on the cheek before walking out of the room. Once she had changed into a t-shirt and pajama shorts she grabbed her phone. She wondered what Rosalie would say as she waited for her to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Emmett."

"Bells! What's up?" he asked in his usual excited, booming voice.

"Nothing much. Is Rose around?"

"She's out in the garage, hold on."

"Bella?" Rosalie asked a few seconds later.

"Hey."

"Hi. Whatcha need?"

"I don't know if Alice has told you but Jake and I set a date."

"No, she hadn't told me. When is it?"

"October eighth."

"That's only three weeks from now. Why so soon?"

"We've been together for six years. We figured that it was time. I wanted to ask you something. You can say no, I'll understand," Bella broached.

"You want me to be a bride's maid, don't you?"

"It would be nice, seeing as Alice is my MOH."

"Sweetie I would love to, but I can't. I've got so much going on here. Emmett found a little girl in the woods the other day, she almost died."

"So you changed her?" Bella asked in concern.

"There wasn't anything else that we could do. We couldn't stand the thought of her dying so young."

"How old is she?"

"Nine. Her name is Carrie, Bella I can't wait for you to see her. She's beautiful," Rosalie gushed.

Bella knew that if Rosalie could cry she would right then.

"You finally get to be a mother. That's great Rose."

"I know, after all this time. I thought that it would never happen," she said in wonder.

"I would still like you to come. Emmett will be there."

"I'll be there. Tell you what, have you found a musician to play at the wedding yet?"

"We were going to ask someone to play the piano."

"Why do that when I can do it?" she offered.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, if I can't be in the wedding party it's the least I can do."

"Thank you."

They talked for a few more minutes before Jacob came to tell her that dinner was ready. She stopped at Alice's room to see her at her computer.

"Have you seen your new niece yet?"

"Yes. She's adorable, so sweet," Alice said with a sentimental smile.

"Do you know what happened to her?"

"She was kidnapped while her family was camping. She managed to get away from the guy, thank God."

"That's when Emmett found her?"

"Mm hmm," Alice said not looking up from her computer.

Bella walked into the kitchen to see that Jacob was already eating. She sat down across from him, pushing her spaghetti across her plate.

"What's wrong?"

"Rosalie and Emmett have adopted a little girl."

"By adopted, you mean they changed her?"

"They didn't have a choice. She was almost dead when Emmett found her. I'm sure if they could have done something that they would have tried."

"How old is she?"

"Nine."

"I'll go up and check it out this weekend," he said as he stood from the table.

Bella nodded before starting to eat. She knew that Rosalie and Emmett were good people, but it had been at least sixty years since a vampire had been added to the Cullen clan.

XXXX

Bella was at work on Monday when the office filled with excited murmuring. She tried to ignore it, but Daniel leaned back from his cubicle, getting her attention. He grabbed a picture from her desk before putting it back a few seconds later.

"I thought I had seen him somewhere," he muttered.

"What?" Bella asked.

Daniel gestured down the aisle with his head. Bella turned, seeing Jacob walking towards her. He had spent all weekend in Tacoma. He still hadn't come home when she left for work that morning.

She stood, moving around the people crowding the aisle. He smiled as she made her way to him. Everyone got quiet as he took one of her hands in his.

"Bella, you can take your lunch break first since he's here," Daniel said.

"Thank you," Jacob said with a smile.

Daniel nodded before Jacob pulled Bella towards the elevators. As soon as the doors closed she leaned against him.

"They're going to be talking about you until I get back. You know that don't you?"

"Do you care?"

"No," she said with a dreamy smile.

"Good. Because neither do I."

They ate hot dogs and chips in the park. He told her what he had found out about Carrie, which wasn't much. Her family was still looking for her, and Emmett and Rosalie were risking a lot by keeping her in Tacoma. They were planning to move back to Forks with the packs permission.

When Bella got back she was swamped with work. She didn't have time to think about anything else. As she drove home questions swirled through her mind. What would happen if Rosalie and Emmett came back? Would the rest of the Cullen's come with them? She would ask Alice, she would be able to give her the answers she wanted.

Jacob was still at work when she got home that night. Alice sat on the couch Indian style talking on the phone as Bella went to her room to change. Alice was off the phone when Bella came back into the room.

"My parents told me to tell you hello."

She nodded as she picked up her book from the coffee table.

"Rose and Emmett are on their way back to Forks," Alice said before Bella could open her book.

"The pack already decided?"

"Quil called them personally, since he is the Alpha now."

"Will-"

"The rest of us aren't coming back, not to stay anyway. We might come to visit them every once in a while."

"It's not that I wouldn't want all of you to come back, because I would. But it's too soon. People would suspect things. I don't want that for any of you."

"I understand," Alice said with a nod.

When Jacob came home two hours later Alice was gone. Bella was pulling dinner out of the oven when he came into the kitchen.

"Where's shorty?"

"Hunting," Bella said as she sprinkled cheese over the lasagna.

"When will she be back?"

"Not until late."

"Do I have time to take a shower?"

"A quick one."

He came back into the room ten minutes later. He stood behind her with his chin on her shoulder. She turned her head to kiss his cheek before moving away. She pulled the garlic bread out of the oven and sat it on top of the stove.

He turned her to face him before she walked into his arms.

"I'm apparently the luckiest girl in my office."

"Who says?"

"When I came back every female that works on my floor bombarded me with questions about you. They were sad to hear that you didn't have any brothers or single friends."

He laughed before shaking his head. It was the same reaction he had given her when she had told him that Jessica had had a crush on him when they first met. It was impossible for him to think about any other girl except Bella.

She smiled before he leaned down to kiss her. When their lips met it was a simple, sweet kiss. He could control himself when he wanted to. He kept her close to him, not wanting to let her go.

"How did Carrie react to you?"

"The same way most kids do," he said indifferently.

"You mean she used you as a human climbing wall? The only person you let do that is CJ."

"She's a fast little blood sucker. She was on me before I could stop her."

"So she was okay with the fact that you stink?"

"She didn't seem bothered by it," he said with a shrug.

"Has she been around humans yet?"

"Not yet, but Emmett says that Carlisle is going to help her with that. He was on his way there when I left."

Bella nodded; satisfied that everything that could be done was being done to help Carrie with her transition. She was glad that Rosalie was finally getting a chance to be a mother. And maybe one day, in the very distant future, Carrie could have a brother or sister.

XXXX

The waiting room at the doctor's office was full. There were little kids playing at the table in the center of the room. There were also some crowded around the TV which was advertising the newest Nerf gun.

"I want that mom!" A little boy said excitedly.

"You're birthday is coming up. You'll have to wait Jackson," His mother replied.

Rachel smiled as the little boy got lost in Max and Ruby once again. Paul sat next to her, taking everything in just as she was.

"Rachel Miller?" A nurse called from the door that led to the exam rooms.

Rachel stood with Paul's help and followed the nurse down the hall. Once in the room the nurse checked her blood pressure and took her temperature. Paul sat next to the table watching Rachel.

"Are you feeling any better than the last time we saw you?" The nurse asked.

Rachel had come in two weeks ago with an upper respiratory infection. They hadn't been able to prescribe her medicine, but they did suggest drinking more water and hot tea, and using a vaporizer.

"A little, it's moved out of my chest and up to my head."

"Just keep doing what you've been doing. The doctor will see you in a few minutes."

When she walked out the door Rachel looked over at Paul. He gave her an encouraging smile, which made her give him a small smile. They hadn't fought in almost a month. They were both trying harder to get along. But they missed the making up. That's when Rachel let her guard down and finally let him in. Their relationship was an ongoing struggle that they both worked hard at to make work.

The doctor came in and checked her vitals as the nurse came in to do blood work.

"Have you been keeping track of your glucose level?"

"I brought the book with me."

Paul handed him the book and he looked over it while the nurse drew Rachel's blood.

"They're a little lower than I would like. When did you last give yourself an insulin shot?"

"Last night before I went to bed. Eleven thirty, I think."

The doctor nodded as he wrote something on her chart.

"Let's see how your boy is doing," he said starting up the sonogram machine.

He left the room but was back a few minutes later.

"Have you been eating like you should?"

"I have. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, sometimes I'll snack in between."

"You're underweight Rachel. I've never told a pregnant woman that before. There's a healthy weight, and then there's you. While you've gained some weight, you're starting to lose it."

"What can I do?"

"I suggest something like Glucerna, or maybe Ensure. They should help you keep the weight on."

Rachel nodded as he squeezed jelly onto her stomach. If she was underweight that meant that more than likely the baby was underweight. She watched the screen as he came into view.

"He looks perfectly healthy. A little underweight, but he gets that from you," he said nudging her arm in a teasing manner.

She smiled with a sigh as he continued to check on the baby. He finished a few minutes later. Paul and Rachel were in the car before he said anything.

"I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong."

"What am I thinking?" she asked with an agitated sigh.

"That this is your fault. You're doing everything that you can. The doctor says that Joe is fine. Once you start putting on weight so will he."

She didn't know how he did it. Maybe she had written all over her face, but she tried to keep it to herself. What he said had helped. She heaved a sigh of relief, thankful that he didn't blame her for what had happened.

XXXX

Bella hadn't seen Angela since Gina had been born. The baby was now nine months old and crawling all over the place. Angela had sent Ben away for a couple of hours so that she and Bella could talk. Gina sat in between them at their feet, chewing on a teething ring.

"So the big day is coming up," Angela broached.

"You got your invitation."

"Yeah," Angela said with a nod.

"Everything is coming together so fast. The only thing left is for me to find two more brides maids, my soon to be sister in law said that she would feel uncomfortable walking down the aisle when she is as big as a house and Rosalie Hale has too much going on to be able to do it."

"You want me to be a bride's maid?"

"Only if you want to."

"Bella I'd be honored, seeing as you were one of mine."

"Thank you. I just need to ask Jessica and hope that she says yes."

"I'm sure she will," Angela said with a nod.

The baby looked up at Bella with a gummy grin. She really was a cute little girl. Her ink black hair and dark brown eyes were the first thing that people noticed. Her olive complexion set off her dark hair and eyes.

Bella smiled down at her, smoothing the baby's hair down.

"Are you ready to have kids?"

"I am. Jake needs some work."

Angela laughed as she shook her head. It was an ongoing joke between their friends that Jacob would probably faint when he found out that Bella was pregnant. No one knew for sure because Alice couldn't see it.

"What if you get pregnant right away like Rachel and I did? What if you're pregnant now?"

"I can't be pregnant now. I'm on the pill and we always use a condom. But if it happens not long after we get married, then Jake is just going to have to deal with it."

Bella knew that he was trying to get used to the idea of kids. He still broke out in hives at the thought of changing a diaper. He couldn't even be in the same room when a child was sick. Bella thought that he was a closet germaphobe.


	9. Earning Her Stripes

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. It belongs to Stephenie Meyer.**

The alarm beeped loudly, making Bella groan. Jacob threw a pillow over his head to drown out the noise. Bella smacked it angrily before throwing her legs over the side of the bed. The coldness of the floor shocked her rest of the way awake. She grabbed her slippers from under the bed before getting completely out of bed.

She cracked the closet door before turning on the closet light. Jacob didn't need to be up for another hour and a half. It wasn't even six and she had to be at work at seven. Shannon had her coming in two hours early and staying until almost midnight most days.

Bella had been put in charge of a book launch party that would happen in only two days. For the past week Bella had only seen Jacob first thing in the morning. She would wake him up to tell him goodbye and he would fall right back to sleep once she left. So much was going on that Bella had trouble keeping her head on straight.

She went into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee before getting in the shower. Once she was out of the shower she changed the message on the message board that was on the refrigerator. She wrote a note to Jacob every morning. And when she got home there would be a message from him.

_I love you more and more every day._

Half an hour later she was trying to wake him up. He groaned then let out a deep sigh.

"We only have two more mornings like this. Then you'll have me to yourself for three weeks. Two of which will be our honey moon."

"Rome," he said with a dreamy sigh.

"I will never be able to thank my dad enough."

"Lay with me," he said reaching for her.

"I have to go. I'm already running behind."

She leaned over him to kiss him. He kissed her greedily, roughly, forcefully.

"Think about that today," he said cockily.

"You are gonna get it…in three days."

"I'm trembling," he said sarcastically.

She smacked him in the chest playfully before pulling away.

"You need to decide on the menu with Sue and Emily today. Don't forget."

"I won't," he said as she turned out the closet light.

"I love you," she said from the door.

"I love you too."

She quietly shut the front door a minute later. The sun was making its slow rise as she pulled out of the parking garage. She pulled down the visor to block the sun as she pointed the car towards downtown Port Angeles. She was going to soldier on through the next couple of days, this would soon be over then she could concentrate on other yet also important things.

XXXX

Bella had less than three hours to look over everything before the launch party started. Her cell phone rang, making her groan. Shannon had been calling her every half an hour all day. She picked up the phone and answered it without looking at the Caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Jacob said wearily.

"What's wrong?" she asked, knowing immediately that something had happened.

"Your mom had the baby."

"She's not due for another month and a half."

"She had been having problems all day. They had to do an emergency C-Section."

"Oh God." she said as she chocked back a sob.

"She wants us to wait until tomorrow to come up."

"I'm trying to figure out a way to tell my boss that I have to leave," she said quickly gathering her things.

"Don't. Your mom wouldn't want you to do that. Call her, check to see how she's doing. You're going to need to calm down first."

"When did you find out?"

"Just now," he said with a ragged sigh.

"I'll call you back when I find out what's going on."

She spent the next twenty minutes on the phone with Phil. Renee's embryonic sack had burst open and the baby had almost died. The baby was so small that Phil had been able to cup her in his hands.

Bella angrily swiped at her tears before going back inside. Shannon took one look at her before pulling her back outside.

"I need you to pull it together," Shannon said as she lit a cigarette.

"I know. I just need a few more minutes," she said absentmindedly.

"What could you possibly have to be upset about? This is your last day for the next three weeks."

"My mom had my sister today."

"Honey, you knew that it was going to happen. Just because you aren't the center of your mom's world doesn't mean that you cry about it," she said rolling her eyes.

"You don't understand. She's six weeks early. She almost died Shannon," Bella said with a sigh.

"Your baby sister almost died?" Shannon asked evenly.

"Yes," Bella answered in a small voice.

"Honey, I am sorry. I was being a bitch."

"It's okay," Bella said with a shrug.

"No it's not. You're having a family situation. Granted I don't have any kids of my own, but that doesn't mean that I don't worry when something happens to my niece or nephew."

"I just need to wash my face. Then I'll be fine."

"Go home Bella. Daniel and I can handle this," Shannon said before snubbing out her cigarette with her boot.

Half an hour later Bella opened the front door to darkness and silence. She had seen Jacob's bike in the garage when she pulled in so she knew that he was home. She continued down the hall hearing his deep snoring from the bedroom.

She undressed down to her bra and underwear before getting into bed. She was almost asleep when Jacob turned on his side and brushed his hand against her arm in his sleep.

She sighed deeply before drifting off to sleep. Her work related stress was finally behind her, but now she had her mom and Bianca to worry about.

XXXX

Bella and Jacob sat outside her mom's room waiting for her to wake up. They had driven up first thing and had been there for two hours. They had gone to see the baby a little while ago with Phil's parents. Bianca was so small that she couldn't even breathe on her own.

At five pounds three ounces Bianca was the smallest baby Bella had ever seen. She watched her mom sleep through the glass window outside her room. The light over the bed cast an eerie glow on Renee. Jacob stood next to her as she let out a sad, deep sigh.

"I wish that I could have been here. She and Phil shouldn't have had to go through this alone."

"She knows that you would have been here if you could have been."

"I just feel guilty."

"You shouldn't. She wouldn't want you to either," he said as he draped an arm over her shoulders.

"When are the two of you getting married?" Phil's mother asked.

"Eight more days," Bella said with a smile.

"Is everything ready?"

"As ready as it can be."

"How long have the two of you been together?"

"It will be six years in March," Jacob answered.

"You two are so cute together. You'll make beautiful babies when you decide to have them."

"Thank you," Bella said with an appreciative nod.

Jacob squeezed her shoulders in encouragement. She smiled up at him as he looked down at her. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye, making her look away. Her mom was sitting up in bed watching them with pride.

Bella took hold of the hand on her shoulder, leading him into the room. He stopped them at the door.

"You should see her by yourself first."

"You're right."

Renee watched them until Bella shut the door.

"Hi, baby."

"Hey, mom," Bella said as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Your sister gave us quiet a scare, didn't she?"

"Almost dying is pretty scary," Bella said with a nod.

"You would know," Renee said sadly.

Bella nodded silently as she remembered the time that Edward had saved her life in Arizona. She hadn't thought about it in years. It seemed like it had happened a lifetime ago. She wasn't the same person she was back then.

"Have you seen her yet?"

"She's so little."

"All preemies are small Bella. There's no way around it," she said sadly.

"Were you in any pain?"

"No. I didn't notice anything was wrong until I went to the bathroom yesterday morning. My underwear and pajama bottoms were covered in blood."

"I'm so sorry," Bella said as she pulled mom in for a hug.

"It's alright baby. She's safe. If I hadn't noticed it when I had she might have died."

"But she didn't. She's tough, like our mom."

"And her sister," Renee said with a smile.

They stayed wrapped in each other's arms as they soaked in the quiet. The soft beeping of the machines and the ticking of the clock were the only sounds.


	10. Last Chance at Freedom

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

Bella pulled up to Emmett and Rosalie's to find the front yard crowded with cars. Who all had Alice invited? She got out of the car and made her way up the stairs as she prepared for the worst.

Rosalie opened the door with a smile.

"How many people are here?"

"Do you really want to know?" Rosalie cautioned.

"Please tell me that she did not invite the whole state of Washington."

"She might as well have," she said with an eye roll.

"Rose stop, you're going to make her worry," Alice said as she came into the room.

"She was worried before I let her in," Rosalie stated bluntly.

"Come inside and sit down," Alice said pulling Bella the rest of the way into the living room.

The house looked different in some ways. Blinds covered most of the windows. The furniture was different. And the lack of a piano made Bella frown in concern.

"It's been moved upstairs to my room," Edward said.

"I thought that you couldn't read my thoughts," Bella said with a sly smile.

"I saw where you were looking. I will play for you before I go back to Paris if you'd like. I'll be here for the next month."

Bella nodded with a sigh as Emmett pulled Edward away. He waved before walking out the door. Alice sat next to her a few seconds later.

"I have two presents for you. One that I can give you in front of everyone and one that is private. Can we go somewhere and talk?"

"Sure."

Bella followed Alice up the stairs and into her and Jasper's room. They sat facing each other on the couch.

"I had a vision yesterday morning. I'm guessing that it stemmed from the excitement of the wedding."

"What is it?" Bella asked in concern.

"Don't worry, it's wonderful. Jake was walking a young girl down the aisle. She couldn't have been any older than twenty. She was the perfect mix of you and Jacob. She has your nose and Jacob's mouth and eyes. She has your beautiful hair," she said running her fingers through Bella's hair endearingly.

"Did you see anything else?"

"You second child will be a boy. Oh he'll look just like Jacob, so handsome. The guy your daughter marries looks like Sam, maybe he's his son. He looked considerably older, ten years older at least."

"Oh," Bella said with a breathless laugh.

"I don't want you to worry about your children. They look very happy and well grounded. You and Jake will do a wonderful job."

"I haven't even gotten Jake adjusted to the idea of having two kids. Now you've sprung another one on me. How did you see it?"

"I will be there," she said with a wink.

"Of course you will. Anymore surprises? I'm not going to be a grandmother when my youngest daughter gets married, will I?"

"No," Alice said with a shake of her head.

"Emily should know," Bella rationalized.

"Do you want me to tell her?"

"No, I'll do it. She hardly knows you."

"How do you think she'll take it?"

"You tell me," Bella said with a laugh.

Alice got a faraway look in her eyes before smiling.

"I depict a lot of happiness, with a definite chance of crying."

"Thank you, weather girl," Bella teased.

"I aim to please," Alice said with an impish grin.

Downstairs a few minutes later Bella broke the news to Emily.

"You're kidding," she said with wide eyes.

"No," Bella said as she shook her head.

"That's amazing. I can't wait," Emily said as she swiped at her eyes.

Bella pulled her close, letting her cry on her shoulder. She explained that she didn't want Jacob to know yet, and asked Emily to keep it to herself. Emily said that she understood and that she wouldn't say anything.

XXXX

Quil had planned a poker night as Jacob's bachelor party. He didn't want a stripper, but beer was greatly appreciated. He wanted it small, and Quil and done what he had asked.

Quil sat on one side of him while Embry sat on the other side. Around the table were all the guys he considered family. Emmett, Jasper, and Edward included. His friendship with Edward had grown over the years. Once Edward had finally stopped butting into Jacob and Bella's relationship Jacob had realized that he wasn't such a bad guy, even if he could be a bit snobbish at times.

This would be his last guy's night before he got married and he couldn't have pictured it any other way.

XXXX

Bella was at the kitchen table talking to Angela, Jessica, and Leah when Alice started bringing in the presents. There had to be at least forty of them. They covered the entire island.

"Somebody went overboard," Angela said with a laugh

"We're going to eat first. Then you can open them," Esme said with a smile.

Bella eyed the pile of presents wearily. Esme stood behind her with a hand on her shoulders.

"Don't worry. Half of them go together. I came up with the idea to wrap them individually to throw you off."

"That's not very nice," Bella said with a scoff.

"Like I said, don't worry, and I did not spend a lot of money on them."

Bella knew that she should trust Esme, but she still looked at the pile of presents with trepidation. Alice sat an envelope on the table next to her.

"This is from me," she said with a sly smile.

"I don't like that look," Bella said as she opened the flap.

Inside was a card, a very beautiful card. Inside the card was a Victoria Secret gift card.

"This way you can pick out whatever you want, and I can still pay for it in a way."

"You are so bad," Bella said with a laugh.

"I know," Alice said as she stuck out her tongue playfully.

"Are you ready to open the rest of your presents?"

"It's going to take all night."

"Tell you what, you can open one of mine, and take the rest home and open them there."

"As long as it's okay with you," Bella said with a nod.

Alice handed her a medium sized, yet slightly heavy box. Bella read the card with a smile.

_I wanted to get you something that you could pass down. I hope you like it. Esme_

Bella opened the paper slowly because she didn't want to ruin it.

"I would do the same thing. That paper is too pretty to tear," Sue said.

Bella's smile turned to a look of surprise as she looked at what she had unwrapped. It was the china that she wanted. The white background with an indigo colored Chinese painting depicting a Chinese village was delicate, and also three hundred dollars for the entire set.

"I spent less than Alice," Esme said proudly.

Bella looked at Alice curiously. She mouthed five hundred as Bella's eyes almost bulged out of her head.

"How much did she say?" Jessica asked.

"Five hundred," Leah answered.

"Wow. That's a lot of lingerie," Emily said with a laugh.

"It's too much," Bella said quietly.

"If you don't want it, I'll take it," Jessica said eagerly.

"Oh, I'm going to use it," Bella promised.

"That a girl," Alice said with a pat on Bella's shoulder.

Sue stood before everyone quieted down.

"This next present isn't only for you, but Jake, and Rachel too."

"How am I a part of this?" Rachel asked in confusion.

"Because I'm here to help you get ready for the baby Genius," Someone said from the hall.

"No," Leah said in astonishment.

"Who is it?" Emily asked.

"My sister," Rachel said quietly as Rebecca walked into the room.

Leah stood so that Rebecca could sit in between Bella and Rachel. Everyone talked at once, asking her questions.

"This is Bella's night. I'll be here for the next three months. Dad said you were big, I didn't realize that he was being nice," Rebecca said putting a hand on Rachel's stomach.

"Don't be mean to me," Rachel said with a pout.

"Wait, who's watching Isaiah and Abigail? I know Sy can't handle them for that long," Bella said.

"His mom is helping him."

By the end of the night the trunk and the back seat of the Impala were full. She had gotten things that she hadn't even thought to ask for. She called Jacob when she was a few minutes away from the apartment. He met her in the parking garage when she came in.

"Why are half of them still wrapped?"

"Esme gave us the china set. I only opened the plates," she explained.

"Where are we going to put them?"

"In the spare room for now, I'll start looking for a hutch when we get back."

They had to make another trip to bring everything in. She pulled him into the living room and pushed him onto the couch. She sat in his lap, running her fingers through his hair. If she was going to tell him what she had found out, then she was going to make sure that he was relaxed first.

"What happened?" he asked.

"What makes you think that something is wrong?" she asked innocently.

"You're in my lap without me pulling you into it. That gave it away."

"Crap. Okay, Alice had a vision."

"And?" he questioned.

"We're having three kids, two girls and a boy."

"Really?" he asked with a pained expression.

"That's not all."

"There's more?" he asked evenly.

"Our youngest daughter is going to marry Sam and Emily's youngest son."

"Sometimes I wish that she wasn't so open and honest," he said in dismay.

"I know that it's a lot to take in. But I do have something that will cheer you up."

"Does it involve us going into the bedroom?" he asked hopefully.

"No," she said with a smile.

"Then how is it going to cheer me up?"

"Call your dad, the house, not his cell."

"Why the house?" he asked with a laugh.

"You'll find out," she said before kissing his forehead.

She got off of him as he made the phone call. She went to the bedroom to change and Jacob came in as she got into bed. He stripped down to his boxers before pulling back the covers.

"Feel better?"

"Mm hmm," he said as he slid across the bed so that he was flush against her.

"I love you," she said as she turned on her side to face him.

"I love you too," he said with a smile.

She gave him a sleepy smile before closing her eyes. They drifted off to sleep with one of his arms draped over her waist.


	11. You, and Only You

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**AN: This chapter not only contains lemon, but it also contains a very territorial Jake. If that isn't your thing, than I don't expect you to read it.**

The day before the wedding dawned with gale force winds and driving rain. Bella worried that it would carry over into the next day. She had been watching The Weather Channel for the past half an hour.

"It isn't going to change," Jacob said before turning off the TV.

"But what if it does?"

"Call Alice, she'll know."

Bella was off the phone with Jasper a few minutes later. Apparently empathy could even work over the phone. She was calm when she found Jacob in their bedroom. She stood behind him, with her hands on his biceps. They slid down his stomach as she sighed.

"Feel better?"

"I'm sorry for stressing out so much," she said into his shoulder.

"It's fine Bells. Everybody has their own way of dealing with stress."

"Why can't I be like you?"

"Not everyone can be perfect," he said with a cocky smile.

She looked over his shoulder to look at him in the mirror. For once she wasn't going to correct him.

"You are pretty great," she said with a smile.

"So are you," he said squeezing her hands.

She kissed him between his shoulder blades, knowing how much he loved it. He turned in her arms then draped his arms over her shoulders. She laid her head on his chest. They stayed like that for nearly half an hour before Bella realized that they had to leave to get her mom and Phil.

Her mom had been insistent that she wanted to be at the wedding. She had been released from the hospital the day that Bella and Jacob had come up. Phil's parents were going to stay in town until they came back. Bianca was doing better. She had gained a little weight and she would be off the respirator soon.

XXXX

That night at the rehearsal everything was going great until CJ asked how much longer it was going to take because he had to go to the bathroom. Bella couldn't control her laughter and pretty soon everyone else was laughing too, including the minister.

"I promise to make sure that he goes to the bathroom before the ceremony tomorrow. I am so sorry," Hannah said once she had brought CJ back.

"It's fine. It wouldn't be normal if everything went perfectly. I'm not mad," Bella said as she ran her fingers through CJ's hair.

He latched onto her leg until she picked him up.

"And you want one just like him?" Jacob asked as he stood next to them.

"You're just going to have to get used to it, because we are having three."

"That's this many," CJ said holding up three fingers.

"Yep," Bella said still looking at Jacob.

"We're gonna go. We'll leave the door unlocked for you," Embry said as he took CJ.

"I'll be there in a little while," Jacob said with a nod.

"You don't need to worry about having kids now. It won't happen for a few years at least," she reassured him soothingly.

"I know. It's just that I don't think that I would be a good dad."

"That's why you have me. And if you aren't, you'll be without a wife and kids," she said logically.

"That's incentive right there. I wouldn't last two days without you."

"It was an empty threat. We'll work it out," she said putting a hand on his arm.

Jacob nodded as he gave her a tight lipped smile. He was still reeling from the fact that he would be a father. It wouldn't sink in until it actually happened. Bella would ease him into the idea, but she wouldn't force it. To know that they would have three kids made everything come together. She wished that Alice had kept it to herself some days, others she couldn't wait for it to become reality.

XXXX

Jacob had trouble falling asleep. After sharing a bed with Bella for the past five months sleeping on Embry's couch was a big stretch. He pulled his phone off of the coffee table and dialed Bella's number.

"Hello?" A half asleep Sam answered.

"Why do you have Bella's phone?" Jacob asked gruffly.

"Because you've been phone blocked. Now hang up and go to sleep," Sam said before hanging up.

Jacob scowled as he hung up the phone. He would make sure to think of something to get Sam back. Scaring the hell out of his unborn son when he was old enough was a great idea.

At Sam's Emily giggled as Sam hung up the phone.

"You know he's going to get you back, right?"

"I'm counting on it," Sam said as he lay back against the pillows.

"Are you going to tell Bella that he called?"

"Nah, he'll more than likely tell her."

"I can't believe you did that," she said still laughing.

"Your dad did it to me."

"You're not Bella's dad though."

"If she had stayed at Charlie's you know that he would have done it."

"It was funny. Thank you for putting it on speaker phone," Emily said as she turned to face him.

"You're welcome. 'Night baby," he said endearingly.

"Good night," she said with a sigh.

He kissed her temple before wrapping his arms around her. She draped a leg over his before kissing the hollow of his neck. They were both asleep a few minutes later.

XXXX

Sunlight shone brightly through the front window at Sam and Emily's waking Bella up. She had slept less than three hours. She had heard Sam leave and Hannah and the boys come in half an hour earlier. The only thing that would keep her awake today was the jitters coursing through her body and the butterflies in her stomach.

She got off the couch and made her way into the kitchen. Emily and Hannah were feeding the babies while Cassie and CJ ate quietly. She made her way to the coffeepot in a fog. The cobwebs would fade once she started to wake up.

"Did I hear my phone ring last night?"

"You did. Sam had a little too much fun with Jake. It was funny," Emily said with a laugh.

Bella nodded as she came to sit next to Hannah. Noah clapped happily as he waited for another spoonful of baby food. She smiled as she played with the small tuffs of hair splayed across his forehead.

"Momma, I'm done," Cassie said.

"Okay baby, you can get down," Emily said pulling out Cassie's chair for her.

CJ tried to get down a few minutes later.

"Hold on Speed Racer. Are you done?" Hannah asked.

"Yes ma'am."

"Then what do you say?"

"Can I get down?" he asked hopefully.

Hannah pulled out his chair and he darted up the stairs.

"He is so independent," Emily said as she heard Cassie shriek with laughter.

"Is that a nice way of saying that he is stubborn?" Bella asked.

"He doesn't have a stubborn bone in his little body. He just has to do everything for himself," Emily said as she shook her head.

Someone knocked on the door and Emily let Renee, Rachel, and Rebecca in. The woman crowded around Renee as she showed them pictures of Bianca. Bella finished her coffee and washed her cup out before reaching for the house phone.

"Hello?" Jacob asked.

"Please tell me that I'm not the only one who didn't get any sleep last night," she pleaded.

"I got a little," he said with a chuckle.

"I didn't fall asleep until dawn. Then I got maybe three hours sleep."

"Nervous much?" he teased.

"Excited, I can't wait to be your wife," she said wistfully.

"I can't wait either."

"Are you talking to Bella?" Quil asked.

"Yeah," he answered honestly.

"What part of phone blocked did you not understand?" Sam asked.

"She called me!" he said in defense.

"Liar!" she said with a gasp.

"Do not pin this on me," he said in a threatening voice.

"What are you gonna do?" she asked with a laugh.

"I have to go. Charlie and Sam are giving me death glares."

"My two dads take care of me, don't they?"

"I have no doubt that they will kill me."

"I'll see you later."

"I love you."

Gagging noises could be heard on his end followed by a smack and a loud yell. Bella laughed as Jacob sighed.

"I love you too," she said endearingly.

Bella hung up to see Rachel, Rebecca, and her mom watching her.

"You couldn't hold off for three more hours?" Rachel asked.

"No, I couldn't. I always call him first thing when we aren't together."

"I think it's sweet," Renee said.

"That reminds me, I need to call Syrus. I'll be back," Rebecca said walking out of the room.

Rachel shook her head in shame as she continued to watch Bella.

"You wouldn't understand. You and Paul have never been separated," Bella said with a shrug.

"That is not my fault. I left to go to Med School and he followed me. I couldn't get rid of him if I tried!" Rachel said throwing her hands up in frustration.

"And that is what we call crazy love. It's the kind of love that can't keep a person away from someone. They can fight until their voices are raw, but they still love each other. It's hard to get over. I wouldn't wish it on anyone," Renee said sadly.

She didn't talk about her relationship with Charlie freely. It had taken her a long time to accept that things were over. She didn't start dating until Bella was fifteen. Less than two years later she married Phil. Bella had never seen her so happy.

"I think it's time that you start getting ready," Rebecca said once she was off the phone.

Bella nodded as she followed them up the stairs. She was in and out of the shower in less than five minutes. Her mom blew dry her hair while Rebecca did her nails. She did her own make up at the kitchen table while Emily made breakfast.

"You should have held off on that. You're going to smear it while you eat," she said over her shoulder.

"I'm not hungry," Bella said as she applied foundation.

"I couldn't eat on my wedding day either time," Sue said with a nod.

"You were too excited?" Bella asked.

"I was excited with Harry and nervous with your dad."

"Why were you nervous?"

"I thought that you, Leah, or Seth would stop the wedding and refuse to let us get married."

"That's why I am not getting married a second time," Rachel said.

"No one would marry you anyway. You're high maintenance and a hot head. Paul's your perfect match for a reason," Hannah said from next to Rachel.

"Very well said," Bella said with a teasing smile.

Rachel looked between the two of them with a glare. Rebecca came into the room to help Emily.

"Sissy, they're being mean to me," Rachel whined.

"What are you, five?" Hannah asked.

"Shut up," Rachel growled.

"She's meaner when she's pregnant," Bella teased with a laugh.

The room erupted in laughter and pretty soon Rachel was laughing too.

"We love you. You know that, but you're being a pain in the ass," Rebecca said squeezing one of Rachel's shoulders.

Bella was in her dress an hour later. Rachel was taking pictures while Renee did Bella's hair and Sue fixed the skirt.

"I am so glad that the two of you are here," Bella said with a sigh.

"Why have one mom when you can have two?" Renee asked with a smile.

"I wished that you and dad got along this well."

"There's always going to be that one person that you are going to butt heads with. I can't complain. He gave me you," Renee said as she placed her hands on Bella's shoulders.

Bella squeezed them before letting her mom lead her to the mirror. Her hair was down, but pulled back from her face. It fell in soft curls over her shoulders and down her back. The dress had needed very little alteration; the skirt was a little shorter than it had originally been so that Bella wouldn't catch her shoes on it. The last thing she needed was to fall flat on her face as she was walking down the aisle.

There was a soft knock at the door and Sue let Alice, Rosalie, and Esme in.

"I was hoping to meet Carrie," Bella said discouragingly.

"She's downstairs with the other kids. She can't wait to meet you either. Alice has been going on and on about you all day," Rosalie boasted.

Alice blew Bella a kiss as she changed into her dress. Bella's shoes were the last thing to be put on. Everyone was downstairs again half an hour later.

"Okay, do you have something blue?" Sue asked.

"My garter belt," Bella confirmed.

"Something new?" Renee asked.

"My necklace is new."

"Something borrowed?" Sue asked.

"No," she said as her face fell.

"Not a problem. I brought something. And they match your dress," she said pulling a box from her purse.

She opened it and pulled out a pair of teardrop pearl earrings.

"Your dad gave me these to me the first Christmas after we got married," she said as Bella put them in.

"I'll take good care of them, I promise."

"I know you will. Your dad should be here soon."

Sue stepped back to look at her.

"You look beautiful Honey," she said with a smile.

"Thank you."

"I've never seen a more beautiful bride," Renee agreed as she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

Bella pulled the two of them close and they engulfed her in a hug. Rachel captured the moment quickly before someone knocked on the door. Charlie was let in and told that he couldn't stay long.

"I have your something old," Renee said.

She pulled something wrapped in tissue paper out of her purse and handed it to Bella. Inside was a bracelet that Bella remembered wearing every day for a year as a teenager.

"Where did you find this?"

"I found it in my jewelry box. I must have borrowed it from you and forgotten to give it back to you. It's time you got it back," Renee said with a laugh.

Bella fingered the thin band of silver before clasping it to her wrist.

With half an hour before the wedding was to start Bella and the woman headed to the church. In less than an hour Bella and Jacob would be married. The home stretch was approaching and neither could wait for it to be over.

XXXX

Jacob stood at the front of the church nervously shifting from foot to foot. Jessica was the last bride's maid down the aisle. The door to the church was waiting to be opened once Charlie knocked to let them know that he and Bella were ready.

Charlie stared down at Bella with a sad smile. She slipped her hand into the crook of his arm and he patted it lightly.

"You aren't going to cry, are you?" Bella asked.

"No. I just have something in my eye," he said as he swiped at his eyes.

"It's okay that you're crying. I won't tell."

"You look beautiful Baby."

"Thank you Daddy. Are you okay now?"

"Yeah," he said before knocking on the door.

Everyone stood and turned towards the back of the church as Jasper opened the door. Jacob took Bella in as Rosalie started to sing When You Love Someone by Bryan Adams. He felt a lump form in his throat and pushed it back down. He didn't want to cry, he knew she would too. She gave him a small smile as she and Charlie made it to him. The Reverend asked who gave her away and Charlie calmly said that he and Renee did.

Jacob reached for Bella's hand once Charlie let go. She moved to stand in front of him as the Reverend talked about the importance of marriage and its sacred vows. He squeezed her hands gently, making her smile.

She recited her vows first and held out a hand for his ring. She gave Quil a smile as she took it from him. He returned it before she returned her attention to Jacob. She looked down at the ring as she placed it on his hand. It was her dad's ring from when he and her mom had been married. She thought that Charlie had gotten rid of it once they divorced. The Reverend looked at her with an expectant look making her realize that she hadn't finished her vows. The ring was a little tight on his finger, but at least it wouldn't slip off.

Jacob's voice cracked as he recited his vows. He took a long slow breath as Quil handed him Bella's ring. A few seconds later they were pronounced husband and wife and were allowed to kiss. It was a slow, sensual kiss. Bella pulled away after a few seconds. She kept her forehead to his as she took a deep breath.

"Finally," he said loud enough for only her to hear.

"That's what I was going to say," she said with a teasing smile.

He kissed her again as the Reverend dismissed everyone. They turned to face everyone before linking arms. They walked as slowly as they could past everyone as they clapped and congratulated them. They both took off at a run once they were outside.

The Impala wasn't outside like Bella thought it would be. Outside Jake's bike gleamed in the sunlight. It was what she had wanted but hadn't wanted to ask him. He helped her on before getting on. The engine roared to life as he kicked up the kickstand. She pressed her body to his as she wrapped her arms loosely around his waist.

Everyone else in the wedding party stayed behind for pictures that took nearly twenty minutes. They only person to complain was Paul, who Rachel quickly put in his place.

XXXX

At Charlie's Bella didn't see Jacob for nearly an hour after they got there, one person after another came up to talk to her. Finally Edward pulled her away from someone and led her upstairs. They stood outside her door a few seconds later.

"He's getting restless," he murmured before walking away.

She opened the door to see Jacob standing at the window. She closed the door before walking over to him.

"I'm starting to see why you like me to dress up," he said as he pulled her to him.

She smiled before reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck.

"We made it," he said with a laugh.

"I was starting to wish that we had eloped."

"It's over now," he said as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

"And now we can focus on the future."

"I like that," he said with a throaty laugh.

"How did you come up with the idea to use my parent's rings?"

"I heard Charlie tell Sue once that he kept his for sentimental value because it was a part of his past. Then I asked your mom if she still had hers, when she said yes I knew I had to do it."

"When was this?"

"Two years ago."

She pulled away just enough to look up at him. She gave him a dreamy smile before leaning in to kiss him. Her fingers threaded into his hair as his hands rested on her hips.

_Incoming._ Edwards's voice said through the lust filled haze.

"Someone's coming," Jacob said as he pulled away.

Bella smoothed down her hair then her dress as Jacob opened the door. Charlie was at the end of the hall walking towards him.

"You know, there is a house full of people who are here to see the two of you. You can be alone tonight," he said from where he had stopped.

"We'll be down in a second," Jacob said with a nod.

He closed the door and turned towards her.

"I say we leave now and the real party can get started early," Jacob broached.

"That is tempting. But I don't know when I will see some the people downstairs again," Bella said in disagreement.

"One hour," he offered.

"Two," she bargained.

"An hour and a half, take it or leave it," he countered indifferently.

"I'll take it," Bella said with a laugh.

Downstairs Quil was ready to give his best man's speech.

"It doesn't take a genius to see how much these two love each other. I've never seen anyone love someone as much as Jake loves Bella. I wasn't around when they first started dating, but once Jake and I became friends again I couldn't get him to shut up about her."

"Thanks," Jacob said as everyone laughed.

"Sorry, but there are just something's that a guy doesn't want to know about his best friends girl," Quil answered sarcastically with a shrug.

"Oh my God," Bella said as she hid her face in her hands.

Her body shook with laughter as Quil continued to taunt Jacob. The room was filled with laughter by the time he was done.

Once the noise died down Alice stood with her glass raised.

"Everyone who is married says that they are married to their best friend. Bella and Jake are the only people I know who were best friends first. Before they started dating she would tell me about the things that they had done together. I remember wishing that I had someone to share my life with in that way. I finally understood what she meant when I got married. The two of them have had a lot of obstacles to get through to get where they are now. Jacob almost died," she reminded everyone.

"Yeah, don't do that again," Bella said elbowing him in the stomach playfully.

"Then they were apart for the better part of four years while Bella was away at college. They made it through because they have a bond that can't be broken. I am blessed to be able to see it firsthand."

Everyone raised their glasses and Bella watched them with pride. They had all changed in the time that she had known them. Some changes were more drastic than others, but all were good. Jacob squeezed her hand to get her attention.

"One hour and fifteen minutes," he said loud enough for only her to hear.

"Please don't clock watch," she said with a sigh.

"Tonight will be the first time we've slept together in almost a month. Excuse me for being anxious," he whispered in her ear.

Bella looked at the clock then down at her watch.

"That clock is wrong. We've got an hour," she whispered.

"See? You're anxious too," he accused.

"Be quiet before someone hears you."

"Too late, again you're offering information I don't want to know," Quil said.

"Then don't be nosy," Jacob said giving him a hard look.

"Have you forgotten that we have super human hearing?"

"I'll make sure that it doesn't happen again," Bella said before Jacob could reply.

He sighed before turning his attention back to everyone else. Bella was right, who knew when he would see some of the people in this room again? Billy rolled up beside him and Jacob looked down at him.

"Well, I finally got rid of you," he said with a sly smile.

"You've been rid of me for nearly a year," Jacob reminded him.

"Yeah, I know, but its official now."

"How are you going to celebrate?"

"I just might get out of this chair and do a little jig," Billy said with a wide smile.

Jacob laughed and Billy patted his arm affectionately.

"I'm proud of you Son. You've done good," he said with pride.

"Thanks Dad."

Billy nodded and he looked over at Bella. Her eyes met his with a smile.

"You know it's too late to change your mind now, don't you?"

"The guy I really wanted is already married. So I settled for second best," she said indifferently.

Billy's laughter rumbled through the room.

"That wasn't funny," Jacob said.

"Yes it was," Billy said as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"So, who is he?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Bella teased.

"It had better not be Paul, because if it is I can kill him now."

"It's not Paul."

"Then I don't care," he said with a quick shrug.

Bella shook her head with a smile as Sue and Emily brought in the cake. Bella and Jacob cut a small piece of cake and Bella swiped her finger through the frosting.

"You said I couldn't shove it in your face, so I'm doing the next best thing," she said with an innocent expression.

"Don't trust her," Embry warned.

"Don't you dare," Jacob warned as he grabbed a fistful of cake.

"Go ahead. Unlike you, I don't care," she said with a shrug.

He moved to shove it in her face but didn't plan on her grabbing his arm and shoving it in his face. The room erupted in laughter as Bella cleaned his face.

"I warned you," Embry said as he came to stand next to them.

"Yeah, yeah," Jacob said with an eye roll.

"Don't be mad. You know that if you tell me not to do something I'm going to do it anyway."

"She has a point," Embry said in agreement.

Half an hour later, Jacob and Bella were waiting to leave while everyone else was outside. Emmett opened the door for them and they stepped onto the porch. Everyone formed two lines on either side of the walkway. The bike had a just married sign attached to the back with tin cans tied to it.

"Let's go," Jacob said as he took hold of her hand.

He led her through the crowd as they threw flower petals at them. He helped her onto the bike again and she gathered her dress in her hands. He got on the bike and she leaned in to rest her chin on his shoulder.

"I love you Jacob Black," she whispered in his ear.

"I love you too Bella Black," he said as he turned his head to face her.

"That sounds nice," she said with a smile.

He winked at her before starting the bike. Bella held on tightly as they sped down the highway. The wind whipped her hair in every direction so she pulled it over one shoulder and held it between them.

The ride to the hotel took over an hour. Jacob checked them in while Bella sat in the lobby.

"Enjoy your stay Mr. Black. If there is anything that we can do, just let us know," The concierge said with a smile.

"I will. Thank you."

Bella met him at the elevators and took hold of his hand. He squeezed it gently as they entered the elevator. She leaned against him and he placed a hand on her hip. They stopped on the second floor to let another couple on. The woman looked at them with a smile.

"Congratulations."

"Thank you," Jacob said with a polite smile.

The doors opened on their floor and they stepped out. Bella followed behind Jacob as he looked for their room. She pulled her bag behind her and his was draped over his shoulder. He stopped halfway up the hall and dropped his bag to the floor. He swiped the card as Bella stood next to him.

He opened the door and kicked his bag inside. He took hers from her, placing it just inside the door. He picked her up, carrying her over the threshold then kicked the door shut roughly. He carried her to the bed and set her down gently. Her hair fanned out around her as he undid his tie. He pulled the tie and jacket off at the same time.

She reached behind her to unzip the dress as he moved to his shirt. He pushed her down on the bed gently before moving down her body. He took off her shoes running his hands slowly up her legs. Her underwear was next as he slipped a finger into her center.

"Wait, let me get this off."

"Right," he said as he helped her lean up.

He pulled the dress off of her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled off his pants and boxers a few seconds later. He was on top of her again before she could blink.

"You are eager," she said with a laugh.

"You're damn right," he said as he undid the front clasp of her bra.

She pulled it off as he pulled her to him. He didn't waste any time before guiding his erection inside her center. She exhaled the breath she was holding as he started a rocking motion. She moved with him, pulling him close. He kissed her shoulder before resting his head in the crook of her neck. This was only their second time without a condom. The first time had been completely different. This time felt more intimate. All of her senses were on high alert.

"Does it feel different to you?" she whispered.

"A good different," he said.

"Yeah," she agreed with a smile.

He pulled out long enough to get her to lie down. He was inside of her again within seconds. He leaned down to brush his lips over her throat, her shoulders, forearms, and breast before finally meeting her lips. She sighed against his lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck to keep him in place. His tongue brushed over hers in smooth strokes. Bella moaned against his lips as he brought a hand between them. He pulled out and slipped a digit in. She grabbed hold of his erection and started a steady pumping motion.

"God," he moaned against her lips.

She sighed in ecstasy as he matched her rhythm. She pulled herself off the bed to meet his movements.

"Easy. I'm not done yet," he said pulling away from her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just deciding which part I want to claim as mine first," he said thoughtfully.

"I've been yours since we got together," she reminded him with a light laugh.

"It's different now," he said as he shook his head.

His eyes drifted down her body in wonder. She watched him with lust filled eyes.

"I know where to start," he said finally.

He leaned down to her breast, brushing his fingers over her nipples. The buds grew at the touch.

"Just the reaction I wanted," he whispered.

Her breath hitched when he leaned down to latch his mouth onto one of the already hard nubs. Her breathing became erratic as he greedily sucked. His hands traveled down her stomach before wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Jake I can't take much more," she moaned.

He pulled away a few inches to look into her eyes. She gave him a wide eyed look. The intense look that he gave her let her know that he was far from done.

"Fine, just remember that payback is a bitch," she said as she gave in.

"I'm counting on it," he said before moving down her stomach.

"This spot here? It's mine too," he said kissing her torso.

She squirmed underneath him, but he shook his head.

"I'm still not done."

He moved to in between her legs.

"Here, here, and here? All mine," he said kissing her thigh, behind her knee, and her ankle.

She giggled as he tickled her foot.

"Now for the place that no guy will ever touch, if one does, I'll break his arm."

"You are so romantic," she said with a sarcastic eye roll.

He came to lean over her again as he slipped inside of her. She moaned before giving him a satisfied smile. He ran his fingers through her hair as he laid his forehead to hers.

"No guy had better ever touch you here either," he said as he brushed his thumb over her lips.

She kissed his thumb before brushing her lips to his. He continued his slow steady rhythm as he kissed her. Their tongues danced over the other as she felt her oncoming climax. She dug her nails into his shoulders, leaving half-moon imprints.

He pulled away knowing that she was close. Her walls constricted around him less than a minute later. She yelled his name as her insides warmed. The lack of a condom was made known again as her juices flowing over him triggered his climax. He fell against her with a grunt and she ran her fingers through his hair.

"I'm ready for round two whenever you are," he said.

"I need a minute," she said breathlessly.

He kissed behind her ear, knowing that it would trigger a reaction. She rolled them over and he pulled her to him. They had all the time in the world to get used to being married. The kids wouldn't come for several years. They were going to be greedy, and do whatever they wanted while they still could.

**AN2: Is anybody still reading? Wow, this took me three hours to type. It's over 5,500 words. Thank God I am done.**


	12. This is the Life

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I also do not know much Italian outside of what I use in this chapter. If I spell something wrong, or mispronounce something please tell me. I will be happy to fix it and I will love you forever.**

It was their last day in Rome and Bella and Jacob were finally taking in the sights. They had spent thirteen days holed up in their hotel room ordering room service and staying naked twenty four seven. It was how Jacob had wanted it, and luckily Bella had wholly agreed.

They had started off at the Coliseum. Jacob had been fascinated to be standing in a place that held so much history. They had taken a tour of the Galleria Borghese before stopping for lunch. They walked hand in hand through the crowded cobble stone streets. Woman hung laundry overhead to dry and yelled from window to window like it was normal.

A man sitting behind an easel stopped them speaking rapid Italian. Jacob looked at him, then Bella as she replied. Her grandmother on her mom's side had been a first generation American who came from Sienna. Luckily, she had taught Bella to speak Italian.

"What does he want?"

"He wants to draw a picture of us. He doesn't charge people who are here on their honeymoon."

"What did you tell him?"

"That it was up to you," she informed him.

The guy looked at Jacob expectantly waiting for his answer. Jacob nodded and the guy gestured to a table next to his easel. They sat down and the guy pulled two wine glasses from a basket beneath the table. He then pulled out an unopened bottle of wine.

"Gratzi," Jacob said with a smile.

The artist started his drawing as Jacob opened the bottle and poured both of them a glass.

"Your Italian is getting better," Bella said as she took a sip of wine.

"He was speaking too fast. I caught a little of what you said."

"And it only took you two weeks. I offered to teach you before we left," she teased.

He shook his head as he grinned. She took his hand over the table and he leaned over the table to talk to her over the noise. She leaned in just inches from him and laughed.

That was the picture that the artist drew. Bella's head thrown back in laughter, Jacob smiling, and their hands intertwined on top of the table. He was done half an hour later. He explained that he had a picture frame for it in his apartment upstairs. When Jacob tried to pay him he pushed the money back into Jacob's hand.

"Free," he said with a shake of his head.

"Tip?" Jacob questioned as he pulled his wallet from his jacket.

The man thought about it before nodding.

"Si, gratzi," he said graciously.

The man came back down with the picture a few minutes later. They both looked at it and smiled.

"Bellisima," Bella said with a smile.

He nodded his head as he smiled shyly. They waved goodbye before heading back to the hotel. Bella took the picture upstairs while Jacob waited downstairs. She was back downstairs a few minutes later.

"What do you want to do now?" he asked.

"It's your turn to pick something."

"Do you want to take a walk along the Timber River?"

"That sounds perfect," she said with a smile.

"Come on," he said pulling her towards the river.

Jacob stood with his back against the railing watching her and she pulled the camera out of her purse. His arms were stretched out to either side as he stared at her.

"Come on, smile," she said.

He broke out into a grin and she smiled from behind the camera as she studied the picture; it was obvious that he couldn't take a bad picture. He took the camera from her and she shielded her face.

"No," she said defiantly.

"Why?" he asked with a laugh.

"You took like twenty of me at the museum."

"So what's one more going to hurt?"

"I'll take one, if you take it with me. It will be the only one of us that we can actually show people."

"The others are for out private collection."

"Yep," she said as she sat next to him.

He centered the camera so that they were both in the picture before pressing the button. He checked the picture before showing it to her. It was a good picture, not the best one they'd taken but not bad either.

"One more, I'll take it this time," she said holding the camera away from them.

"Look at me," he said quietly.

She turned to look at him, noticing how close he was. She brushed her lips to his as she took the picture. He took the camera from her and held it between them. The second picture was better than the first, one that she would want for her nightstand. She put the camera away before leaning against him. He draped an arm over her shoulders as she laid her head on his shoulder. Things couldn't get much better.

XXXX

The boys had fallen asleep early, something that rarely ever happened. Embry lay on the floor in front of the fireplace while Hannah got them something to drink. He couldn't remember the last time the house had been this quiet. Even the sounds from outside were muted.

Hannah came back into the room carrying two beers. He took them from her before she sat down. He pulled her down to lay next to him. She lay on her side facing him while he lay on his back with an arm propped under his head.

She put a hand on his stomach, drawing lazy circles. He sighed before turning his body to face her. She scooted closer, her hand now resting on his hip. Their foreheads touched as he draped his free arm over her waist. She kissed him lightly before pulling away. He pulled her back in, kissing her again. Her lips were pliant under his, moving against his easily. They rolled over with him on top of her. He fingered the thin strap of her night gown as he massaged her tongue with his.

She pushed at his shoulders letting him know to sit up. She pulled at her nightgown until he leaned up enough for her to take it off. It was flung onto the couch before she lay back down. His boxers were next before Noah let out a whimper. She pulled away from the kiss with a sigh.

He held up a finger then waited. Nothing else was heard before his hands moved down her body. Not another sound was heard as they took advantage of a night with no kids.

XXXX

Nuts, bolts, and pieces of a crib were scattered around Rachel. She had been trying to assemble it for half an hour. The instructions were in Spanish, which only made things worse. She would just have to wait until Paul got home.

The front door opened and he could be heard in the front hall. Apparently she hadn't had to wait long. He came to stand at the door a minute later.

"Help me up," she said holding up a hand.

"You weren't able to get it done?" he asked as he gently lifted her off the floor.

"No. It figures that your mom would give us a crib that only has Spanish instructions," she growled.

"I'll do it tonight," he promised.

"I can't do anything," she said with a sigh.

"Yes you can," he said pulling her to him.

"What can I do?"

"You're the only person who can calm me down just by looking at me," he praised.

"I can piss you off just by looking at you too," she said with an eye roll.

"That hasn't happened since we got married. I'm trying to make you feel better," he said rubbing her arms.

"I know. It's just frustrating. I can't stand being stuck in this house all day."

"Maybe you should start looking for studio space."

"We do have fifty thousand dollars in the bank just waiting to be spent," she said as her eyes lit up.

"Just don't buy the first place you see, and not some place that's condemned."

"You've got a deal. I'm going to start dinner," she said moving away from him.

"Hold on a second. Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked as he pulled her back.

She smiled up at him before leaning up to his lips. She kissed him with a loud smack before quickly pulling away. She was out of the room before he could react. He laughed lightly before picking up the directions.

XXXX

Embry woke up to see CJ staring down at him. He and Hannah had fallen asleep on the floor sometime after one. Hannah lay next to him still sleeping.

"You guys camped out in here?" CJ asked.

"Yeah," Embry said with a nod.

"Noah needs his diaper changed. I can't see to change him."

"Get everything ready. Then get dressed. I'll be right there."

"Yes sir," he said before walking away.

Embry heaved a sigh of relief, glad that CJ had fallen for it. He quietly got out from beneath the blanket and searched for his boxers. He found them behind the couch and quickly pulled them on. CJ was having trouble pulling his shirt over his head when Embry walked into the room.

Embry unbuttoned the buttons then helped CJ pull it the rest of the way over his head. Noah was still in his crib and let out a happy coo when he saw his dad.

"Hey big man," Embry said as he picked him up.

He had Noah changed and dressed in less than five minutes. He asked CJ to watch him so that he could get dressed. When he came back into the room CJ was leaning over Noah, tickling him everywhere at once. Noah's laughter filled the room as Embry filled Noah's diaper bag.

"Get your shoes Ceej."

CJ sat on his bed with his shoes on the floor in front of him while Embry put Noah in his carrier. He put CJ's shoes on him before CJ followed him out of the room.

"What about mom?" CJ asked.

"We're going to get breakfast and bring it back. Let's go," he said grabbing his keys.

Not every morning was as easy as this one. He was counting his blessings as he started the car and pulled out of the yard.

XXXX

Jacob opened the door and told Bella to wait outside. He carried their bags in before picking her up.

"Again?" she asked, amused.

"This is our first time coming home as husband and wife. Let me do this."

"It's not like I'd tell you no."

"Close your eyes," he said before turning on the light.

She closed her eyes with a sigh as he carried her over the threshold. He set her down on the kitchen counter before telling her to open her eyes. She opened them and saw a china cabinet behind the table.

"Where did that come from?" she asked with wide, surprised eyes.

"Seth made it."

"He already gave us the table for the guest room."

"It's from me," he said with a small smile.

She pulled him to her with a satisfied smile.

"Any more surprises?"

"Rachel dropped the pictures off."

"I'll look at them later," she said.

"You don't want to look at them now?" he asked with a confused look.

"I want to go to the bedroom," she said seductively.

"Whatever you want," he said as he picked her up.

She was over his shoulder as he all but ran to their room. She laughed breathlessly as he placed her gently on the bed. He leaned over her drowning out the noise from the street below. He leaned in for the kill, capturing her lips in a bruising kiss. Their clothes were quickly shed and nothing else mattered. They had each other; that was all they needed.

XXXX

Rachel stood in the middle of the baby's room taking it in. It still wasn't finished. They needed more furniture, but the crib and dresser in the corner made her glad that she had been given the chance to be a mom. There was a chance that she wouldn't be able to have another baby. She could live with that if Paul could. They had gotten lucky by getting pregnant on the first try. No amount of luck could ensure that it would be an easy delivery. She had already been warned about that.

"What are you doing?" Paul asked from behind her.

"I was just thinking," she said as his hands massaged her shoulders.

"What about?"

"Would you be okay if Joe was our only kid?"

"Absolutely, luckily he's a boy. He can carry on the family name," he said proudly.

"What if he were a girl?" she asked with a laugh.

"I'd still be happy. I'd just have to buy a gun," he said discerningly.

"I'm nervous about the delivery."

"It's going to be fine. I'll be right there with you."

She took hold of both of his hands making him stop. He squeezed her hands reassuringly. She let go before turning in his arms. His arms were around her neck as she fell against him. He kissed her forehead trying to ease her fears.

He rubbed her back as she tried not to cry. Before she got pregnant he had never seen her cry. Now it was a weekly occurrence. He didn't like it when she cried, he felt helpless, like there wasn't anything that he could do to make things right. It was the only thing he wouldn't miss once she had the baby.


	13. Putting Her Foot Down, Somewhat

**Disclaimer: If I said that I owned Twilight would you believe me? I didn't think so.**

Leah woke up to see Curtis sleeping next to her. She ran a finger gently down his arm. His face twitched at the touch, but he sighed before going still again. Ryan's side of the bed was empty. She quietly walked into the front room, seeing him sitting on the couch. He was reading over one of his contracts. He had a meeting with the owner and coach of the Mets tomorrow and one with the Red Sox on Tuesday. He was torn between the two. He had met with both teams before and had liked them both.

"Imagine if it were the Yankee's instead of the Mets," she said as she sat next to him.

"Then the decision would be easy. Red Sox all the way. I am not scared of some curse that someone supposedly put on them that hasn't happened," he said sarcastically.

"You know that I'll support whatever decision you make," she said as she ran her fingers through his hair.

He still kept it long. That was the way she liked it. She loved to run her fingers through it. He closed his eyes with a smile as she massaged his shoulders. She had always supported him. She had packed up and followed him to Florida for college. Now that they had Curtis it was his turn to support her. Once he signed a contract she would never have to work again. He was going to repay her for all the sacrifices she had made for him.

"Da?" Curtis called from the room.

"I can get him," Leah said as she pulled away.

"He called for me," he said putting a hand on her arm.

Ryan came out of the room with Curtis a few minutes later. He had gotten him ready for the day, including his jacket and shoes.

"Are you taking him somewhere?"

"To the balcony; the Parade's gonna pass by here," he stated.

"I'll meet you out there." she replied with a smile.

She paused next to them, putting a hand on each of their backs.

"There isn't anyone else who I would want to spend Thanksgiving with," she said with a smile.

Ryan turned his head to look at her before leaning in. He kissed her softly as she leaned against him. He smiled against her lips before pulling away. His eyes shone brightly with the adoration and love that he had for her. Gone was the quiet, withdrawn teenager, he had turned into a man who knew what he wanted, and would make all sacrifices needed to get it.

XXXX

Bella checked on the Turkey while Jacob looked through the paper. It was their turn to have Thanksgiving dinner at their house and she wanted everything to be perfect. Sue was bringing the pies and Emily was bringing the drinks. Bella was in charge of everything else.

"Best Buy has TV's on sale," he stated.

"Why do we need another TV?" she questioned.

"We can put ours in the guest room since it doesn't have one," he explained.

"Wait a few months," she said opening the oven door.

She leaned against the counter going over the list. Everyone would be there soon and the paper was scattered across the table. He had helped her with the food this morning. Now that it was almost time for everyone to start showing up she still needed to take a shower.

"Sue and Emily should be here soon. I'm getting in the shower," she explained.

"Everything is going to be fine," he said as he stopped her.

She looked down at him with tired eyes. She hadn't slept much the night before because every possible thing that could go wrong ran through her head. So far, nothing had happened. The door opened and her dad and Sue could be heard in the living room.

"You aren't ready yet?" Sue asked as she came into the kitchen.

"I'm getting in the shower now," Bella said as she walked out of the room.

"Jake, there are something's that need to be brought in. Would you help Charlie?" Sue asked as she started clearing the paper from the table.

"Sure. You can put that in our room," he said before walking out of the room.

Bella was out of the shower ten minutes later. She stood on the bathroom rug wrapping a towel around her when she heard a commotion from the living room. The guys must be watching football.

"No one go down the hall," Alice called from the kitchen.

"Thank you Alice," Bella said to herself.

There was a knock at the door as she was buttoning her shirt. She opened the door as she put on her vest.

"Damn!" Rachel said slowly.

"Jake says the same thing," Bella said with a smile.

"You're out of ice, coffee, and milk."

"I bought milk the other day and Jake bought a bag of ice this morning," Bella said in disbelief.

"The ice is gone, and CJ and Cassie had an accident while they were getting themselves something to drink. I volunteered us to go to the store. I didn't realize I'd have a sexy piece of arm candy," Rachel said wagging her eyebrows evilly.

"I doubt that Jake would share me," Bella answered in mock concern.

"He doesn't have to know," Rachel said as she shrugged her shoulders indifferently.

"Just let me get my keys."

In the living room Jacob and Paul got quiet as Bella and Rachel put their jackets on. Once they were gone Quil threw a pillow at Jacob's head.

"Don't do that again," Jacob warned as he threw the pillow back.

"Wipe the drool off your chin then," Quil chided.

"Why aren't you making fun of Paul?" Jacob asked exasperatedly.

"Because he can kick my ass," he answered honestly.

"You'll understand when Claire gets older," he reassured.

"I already know. Bella's hot and Rach has got huge boobs," Quil observed.

"You get him," Jacob said as he stood.

Quil protested but Jacob could hear the smack from the kitchen. Quil came into the room rubbing the back of his head. He hit Jacob who then smacked him in the same place that Paul had. Quil shook with anger and Jacob gave him room.

"It was a joke man. You hit me in the same place Paul did!" Quil seethed.

"You're a wuss," Paul said as he came into the room.

"That's enough you three," Sue warned from the counter.

Bella and Rachel came in fifteen minutes later as the turkey was pulled out of the oven. Quil averted Bella's gaze as she stood next to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked in concern.

"Mm hmm," he said with a nod.

"I've handled it," Sue reassured her from the other side of Quil.

Jacob came to stand next to Bella and wrapped an arm around her waist. He pulled her to him protectively. She looked up at him curiously. He smiled down at her before glaring at Quil.

"Okay, I want to know what happened," she stated pointedly.

"He said something he shouldn't have. Now he's scared to look at you," he explained.

"What did you do?" she accused.

"Paul hit him first," he said in defense.

Bella put a hand on Quil's shoulder squeezing lightly. Jacob handed her a plate before grabbing one for him. The past minute was not forgotten when Quil moved away from her.

"Was it really that bad?" she whispered to Jacob.

"Let's say he said something about Rachel that he shouldn't have. I hear what he said about you all the time from Rachel."

Bella found Rachel watching her from the doorway. She shrugged her shoulders giving Rachel an 'I don't know' look. Rachel gave Jacob a pointed look before Paul came to stand behind her.

It wasn't very often that Jacob and Paul worked together. But apparently Quil had been out of line, something that rarely happened. Bella put it behind her and concentrated on spending time with her family and friends.

XXXX

Curtis was down for the count once the parade was over. Leah must have taken a hundred pictures. There was nothing more exciting than witnessing a child's wonder at something new.

Leah sat with Ryan on the couch as he went over the contracts again. She wished that she could help him make the decision. The final decision was his to make. A hand fisted in his hair as he tried to concentrate. Leah read a book until he finally set the contracts down half an hour later.

"What time do you have to be there tomorrow?"

"Two," he answered just above a whisper.

"I was thinking of taking Curtis to get his picture taken with Santa while you had your meeting," she explained.

Ryan nodded before laying his head on the back of the couch. He would be glad when this was all over. Everything he had worked for was on the line.

She moved to sit next to him and he pulled her into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"When all of this is over I am going to buy you a ring," he promised.

"Is that you're way of asking me to marry you?" she asked with a shaky laugh.

"Only if you want to." he stated honestly.

"I want to," she said before kissing his neck.

"Do you want to know what else I'm going to buy you?" he asked.

"What?"

"Whatever you want," he said with a lopsided grin.

She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Curtis stirred next to him and he rubbed sleep from his eyes.

"What about him? What are you going to buy him?" she questioned.

"A house, with a huge back yard so that he can run around, and a dog," he said, after thinking for a minute.

"You hear that Buddy? Da's gonna buy you a puppy!" she said excitedly.

"Puppy!" Curtis squealed before laughing.

Puppy was the newest word that he had learned. Every time he saw a dog he would scream it from the top of his lungs. Seth had thought it was funny, so he had phased in front of Curtis. His wide eyed, excited reaction was one that Leah would never forget. He hadn't learned how to bark, but she had a feeling that it would be cute too.

It was crazy when she thought back on the past five years. She never thought that she would be a mother; she hadn't wanted kids before she met Ryan. Now she was glad that she had the opportunity to be a mother. She thought that she had lost her chance at love when Sam walked out of her life. Ryan was the kind of guy she had always needed but had never known it. He was laid back; she was wound tight as a coil with too much energy. He was quiet; she couldn't go five minutes without talking. Somehow they met in the middle.

XXXX

After everyone had left Bella had collapsed on the couch. Sue had made Jacob, Paul, and Quil clean the kitchen. It had been their punishment for acting like little boys. Bella and Rachel had thought it was hilarious. Luckily Bella had been able to talk Rachel out of mocking them. She had a feeling that Sue wouldn't hesitate to make Rachel help, even if she was eight months pregnant.

Jacob came into the room and saw her half asleep. He ran a finger down her arm making her groan.

"This couch isn't big enough for the two of us without me getting uncomfortable. Let's go to bed."

"I'm going to bed. You are sleeping out here," she informed as she sat up.

"Bells…" he groaned.

"What was the only thing I asked you to do today?" she asked tiredly.

"To make sure that no one caused any trouble," he mumbled.

"Did you think that I wouldn't find out?" she accused.

"I cleaned the kitchen earlier," he said in defense, giving her a pleading look.

"I didn't tell Sue to make you do that," she stated pointedly.

"So I'm getting punished twice?" he griped.

"So is Paul," she reminded him.

"What about Quil?"

"I'm sure that if Claire were old enough she'd chew him out too. You know where the extra blankets and pillows are. I'll see you in the morning," she called over her shoulder as she walked away.

"I'm sorry," he pleaded.

She stopped where she was; he always knew how to get a reaction out of her. She couldn't stay mad at him when he pleaded with her and he knew it.

"You should have thought of that earlier," she said, gathering her nerve before starting down the hall.

She could hear him coming up behind her but she didn't stop.

"I love you," he said reaching for her.

She sighed before letting him turn her around. He kissed her gently as he cupped her face in his hands. She smiled against his lips before pulling away.

"I love you too, but you're still sleeping out here."

She left him standing where he was. She had expected him to put up a fight. She shut their door quietly and turned on the nightstand lamp. She paused as she put her fingers on the top button of her vest. She had hoped that he would be the one to take it off of her. She walked back to the door and opened it to see him coming out of the bathroom.

"What happened today won't happen again, will it?" she questioned.

"No," he said as he looked down at his feet.

"Then I suggest that you come in here and undress me then," she ordered.

He looked up at her with unsure eyes.

"If it happens again you will be sleeping on the couch. No amount of pleading, puppy dog eyes, or making me feel guilty will get you out of it. Do you understand?" she accused.

"I understand," he said with a nod.

"Then why are you still standing there? Your wife is offering you sex and you're on the other side of the hall," she said exasperatedly.

He looked at her from under his eyelashes; something he knew drove her crazy before stalking across the hall. She was in his arms less than a second later. He carried her to the bed and lay her down gently. He took her boots off before turning out the light. She pulled him to her before he could get away.

She had never liked being angry with him and holding it in for five hours had almost killed her. She wasn't going to hold back next time. The whole building would know and she wouldn't care.

**AN: I came up with an idea the other day that I wanted to run by you guys.**** I want you guys to send me ****questions that you want me to answer. I have seen other people put up ****questionnaires****on their pages but not one consisted of fans questions. I promise that I will credit you and I will answer all of the questions truthfully.**


	14. Prepared, Yet Scared

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I also do not know much about water births other than what I have seen on A Baby Story. Please do not take my lack of knowledge seriously.**

Rachel had waited until the last minute as usual. She had said that she didn't want a baby shower, since Joe was due to be born so close to Christmas. There were over a dozen presents for him under the tree. She and Paul had agreed not to celebrate Christmas until after Joe was born.

The day before Christmas Eve was a hectic one in the Miller house. Sue, Emily, Bella, and Hannah were in the process of decorating the house and cooking food for the shower. Rachel had put on a considerable amount of weight in the last few months of her pregnancy. She felt like the Good Year blimp, yet Paul said that she was beautiful.

She sat on the couch with CJ on one side and Cassie on the other. Cassius and Noah played in Cassius' playpen a few feet away.

"Ray Ray?" CJ asked.

"Hmm?" she asked running her fingers through his hair.

"I love you," he said as he wrapped his small arms around her.

"I love you too sweet boy," she said kissing his forehead.

"I love you Rachel," Cassie said, not looking up from her coloring book.

"I love you too," she said with a smile.

Bella came into the room and sat in the recliner.

"Is everything done?"

"Yeah. How are you doing?"

"Okay. My back is bothering me, and he won't stay still. Other than that it's not so bad," Rachel said optimistically.

"He's probably just getting ready," Sue said as she came into the room.

"Luckily we're ready for him."

"I'd say you were more than ready. Half of those presents under the tree are his," Hannah said from the kitchen.

"Paul and I decided that we would only buy each other one gift each this year."

Paul came in taking his boots off at the door. He hadn't wanted to leave in case Rachel went into labor. So he was designated to the bedroom once the shower started. He came to stand behind the couch and put a hand on Rachel's shoulder.

"Any change?" he asked in concern.

"Mm mmm. He's still moving."

"Has the pain gotten any worse?"

"Not really."

"You're not lying so that I won't worry, are you?" he questioned, giving her an even look.

"If anything happens you'll be the first to know. I promise," she promised.

He headed back to their bedroom a few minutes later. Women gathered around Rachel asking if she needed anything.

"I don't need anything right now. Will someone make sure to make Paul a plate and take it to him?"

"I'll do it," Bella said walking out of the room.

She knocked on their door a few minutes later. He opened the door and let her in. The TV was on but the volume was low. She set the plate on the dresser along with his drink. He sat on the bed with his head in his hands. Bella had never seen him like this.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Does she look different to you?"

"Rachel looks the same to me. She's tough; she's going to be fine," she assured him.

"I know. She's kept me up the past three nights talking about the baby. The pain in her back has been there since midnight. I've tried everything I can think of to help her. Then he started moving a few hours ago and he hasn't stopped since."

"She's two days from her due date. It's part of the process."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"Leah stayed with Sue, my dad, and I for the last month that she was pregnant," she confided.

"So you were with her when she went into labor?"

"Yep," Bella said proudly.

"Do you think it will happen for Rach soon?"

"I'd bet money that you'll be a dad by tomorrow."

Paul laughed nervously as she crossed the room to the door.

"Don't worry; everything is going to be fine."

The door opened when Bella was inches from it. Rachel stood in the doorway, clutching her stomach.

"This is me telling that things have gotten worse."

"What happened?" Paul asked as he crossed the room.

"I had my first contraction. I timed it and everything."

"How long ago was that?" Bella asked.

"Four minutes ago."

"Okay, sit down. Let's wait for the next one," Bella said as she helped Rachel onto the bed.

There were a few minutes of silence before Rachel groaned in pain.

"Eight minutes," she said through the pain.

"That just means that this is the beginning. Your water still has to break," Bella said as she rubbed her back.

"I'm going to tell everybody."

"No, I'll do it. You stay with her," Bella said stopping Paul from leaving the room. The last thing she wanted was for him to miss something.

The house was a murmur of noise as everyone left. Hannah came into the room followed by Rebecca and Bella.

"Everybody's gone. Sue's cleaning up," Bella said.

"Thank you," Rachel said.

"Don't worry about it. I'm gonna go. This is something that you should share with your sister and Hannah," she said before walking down the hall.

"Isabella Swan Black you get your ass back in here right now!" Rachel called after her.

Bella stopped in the hall, not sure if she should go back in or not.

"Come on. You don't want to piss her off," Hannah said as she pulled Bella back into the room.

The five of them waited in silence for the next contraction to hit. Rachel grimaced in pain as she sucked in a ragged breath.

"How bad is it?" Paul asked.

"I've felt worse," she said once it subsided.

"That's my girl," he said kissing her temple.

"Hannah, would you call Jake and our Dad?" Rebecca asked.

"And my midwife, her number is in my phone," Rachel said handing her the phone.

"Sure."

Hannah was back in the room a few minutes later. The front door opened and Billy was at the door a few seconds later.

"The midwife's on her way," Hannah said as she sat next to Rachel again.

Rachel had opted for a home birth. She had thought it was a good idea at the time. Now she was scared that she had made the wrong decision. Did she have everything she needed? What if something went wrong? Another contraction pulsed through her making her clench her eyes shut.

It was almost an hour later before the midwife showed up. She made everyone except Paul leave the room as he checked on her.

"Everything looks great. You're progressing the way you should. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't have the baby here."

Rachel heaved a sigh of relief. Paul sat on the bed next to her holding one of her hands. The room was quiet as the midwife left. Paul's fear of hospitals was another reason that they had opted to be at home when Joe came into the world. Not many people knew of Paul's deep seeded fear of all things medical. He had spent a good part of his childhood in and out of hospitals due to cancer. It wasn't until he was sixteen that things started to change. He had dealt with Rachel's dream of being a doctor because he knew that she wanted to help people.

"Are you okay? You're too quiet," she asked as she looked at him.

"I don't like that you're in pain and there's nothing that I can do about it."

"Yes there is, you're doing it now. You're here with me. You're taking my mind off of it."

"Do you need anything?"

"I'm good for right now. The pain isn't that bad."

"Yeah right," he said with a sarcastic laugh.

"I'm trying to make you less worried," she said with an eye roll.

He lay next to her and she turned on her side to face him. Pain aside, she was excited that this was happening. She had wanted to be a mom for as long as she could remember. He put his head to hers not wanting to break the silence.

In the living room Bella, Jacob, Rebecca, Billy, and Hannah waited patiently. Sue had left not long after the midwife had gotten there. She had said that it was important for them to be there and they didn't need someone else getting in the way. Embry had called to let Hannah know that she didn't need to come home. He could handle the boys for the night.

XXXX

Rachel leaned against Paul in the bathtub. After eleven hours the baby was close to being born. She had tried to sleep for a little while, but the contractions made it impossible. She had refused epidural twice. She wasn't afraid of the pain, even if it did suck the life out of her.

She gripped Paul's arms as another contraction hit her full force. She dug her nails in to take her mind off of the pain. Once it was over she fell back against him again. She checked his arms to surmise the damage. Half-moon marks covered his arm, but she hadn't broken the skin.

"You didn't hurt me. Don't worry," he said kissing her cheek.

Everything was quiet and calm as the midwife warned her to be ready to push. The contraction came and she bore down on Paul's arms as she pushed as hard as she could.

"I can see his head." The midwife said.

Rachel let out a shriek as pain shot through her again. She had barely had time to recuperate from the last contraction when another followed closely behind it.

"Come on Rachel, push!" The midwife urged.

"I'm trying," she said through the pain.

She took a deep breath before pushing with everything she had. She fell back against Paul, heaving for breath.

"He's a quarter of the way out. One more big push Rachel," The doula encouraged.

Paul held Rachel's hands in his and she gripped them with all the strength she had left. The contraction came and she let out a scream as she pushed the baby the rest of the way out.

"Congratulations Mom and Dad. You have a healthy baby boy," The doula said as she placed Joe in Rachel's arms.

"What time is it?" Paul asked.

"Why do you want to know what time it is?" Rachel asked.

"It's a little before eleven thirty," The doula said.

"Bella was right," he said with a throaty laugh.

Joe let out a shrill cry because he wasn't used to things and Rachel spoke to him soothingly. He calmed down within seconds.

"We did it," she said as she turned her head to look at Paul

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. You did all the work."

"I wouldn't mind having another one if it were possible."

"Let's wait awhile," Paul said with a laugh.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

He kissed her softly as he put a hand on Joe.

"Let's get him checked out and the two of you out of that tub," The doula said.

Rachel was breast feeding in the bedroom while Paul told everyone ten minutes later. He came into the room and lay next to her on the bed.

"I still can't believe that we made him," she said in wonder.

"I know."

"Did everybody leave?"

"Yeah. Hannah, Bella, and Bec will be back in the morning."

"You were great; I couldn't have done it without you."

Joe finished eating and Rachel burped him. Paul put him in his bassinet and he was asleep within seconds. Rachel laid her head on Paul's chest as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. They were both exhausted and ready to sleep through New Year's. They knew it wouldn't happen, but they were going to sleep as long as they could.

**AN: I need your help again guys. I was telling a friend of mine**** about a story that I read close to three years ago and I couldn't think of the title. Here's a quick summary of**** the story: Billy and Renee get**** married**** in the first few chapters****. (I know that there are a lot of those, keep reading.) Jacob and Bella fight their feelings for over ****half of the story before finally getting together. Bella does become friends with the Cullen's but she and Edward do not date, although he does have feelings for her. Jake and Bella end up**** getting married on a wildlife ****reserve with a deer that they have**** adopted as their only witness. Please tell me that someone knows this story. I spent nearly an half an hour looking for it this morning.**


	15. It's a Wonderful Life

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**AN: I want to take a minute to say thank you to a few people. Shell, Noini and Lilyflower24. I was on Aspirations of Whimsy's page yesterday and I looked right over it. Oy me! lol**

It hadn't taken much pleading for Leah to get Seth to come to Boston. He had come no questions asked and for that she was grateful. She met him at the airport with Curtis squirming in her arms. She set him down and he toddled as fast as he could towards Seth. Seth picked him up and carried him the rest of the way to Leah.

"Hey," he said giving her a one armed hug.

"Hey you. Who is he Curtis?"

"Puppy!" Curtis said as he clapped excitedly.

"Seth," Seth corrected him as Leah erupted into a fit of laughter.

"I can't get him to call you Seth."

"It would help if you didn't encourage him."

"But it's so cute," she said pinching Curtis' cheek lightly.

"Why am I here?" he asked as they walked outside.

Fat snowflakes swirled around them as Leah pulled him through the throng of people.

"I guess since you're here I can tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Ryan and I are getting married. And we want you to be our witness."

"You're not even going to tell mom? What about his mom? She's going to miss out on two of her kid's weddings."

"This is the way we want it. Will you do it?"

"I don't have a choice do I?"

"No," she said with a laugh.

"Then I guess I'll do it."

"Did you hear that Curtis? Uncle Puppy is gonna do it!"

"Yay!" he said as he clapped his hands again.

Seth shook his head as he laughed. He had never seen his sister this happy. He wouldn't have been able to tell her no if he tried. Pretty soon they were in front of the Courthouse. Ryan stood on the steps waiting for them. He smiled when his eyes met Leah's.

"One witness; as promised," Leah said once she had kissed him hello.

"Da!" Curtis said reaching for Ryan.

"We really appreciate you doing this Seth," he said as he took Curtis from Seth.

"Puppy!" Curtis squealed.

"It's cool."

"I promise that he won't call you that forever. It's just a phase he's going through."

"It doesn't help that Leah encourages him."

Leah was now standing behind Ryan making cutting gestures at her throat, violently shaking her head no.

"I'll work on it," she said when Ryan looked at her over his shoulder.

"It's freezing out here. Let's go inside," Ryan said taking hold of Leah's hand.

Seth followed a few steps behind, taking them in. Ryan was a good guy, he treated Leah right. He gave her whatever she wanted, and he was a great dad and role model for Curtis. He couldn't find a fault in their relationship.

Inside they made their way towards the stairs. On the second floor they found the Justice of the Peace's office. They had an appointment and they were half an hour early. Leah took off her jacket to reveal a thin ivory colored knee length spaghetti strapped dress.

"Technically he's not supposed to see you wearing the dress before the wedding."

"We don't have time for technicalities right now Baby Brother."

"Have either of you called Hannah? Shouldn't she know that she'll be sharing her wedding anniversary with the two of you?"

"She knows," Ryan said with a nod.

"Do you have your marriage license Mr. Walker?" The secretary asked.

Ryan gave it to her before taking hold of Leah's hand again.

"You look beautiful," he said as he looked into her eyes.

She smiled shyly before brushing her side swept hair over her shoulder. She looked at Seth next.

"How are things going with Amanda?"

"Okay. I haven't seen her since just after Halloween."

"Do you talk to her?"

"Whenever her mom isn't home, Jessica bought her a phone so that her mom wouldn't know."

"That's a good idea," Ryan said with a nod.

"Is she fifteen yet?"

"Not until January sixteenth."

"Are you happy? Be honest."

"It's frustrating sometimes. Then she'll call me and then everything is fine again."

"Have you told her yet?"

"I've tried a couple of times. I don't want to scare her off."

"Wait until she's a little older," Leah said with a nod.

The door to the office was opened and Ryan and Leah were called in to sign some paperwork. Seth took Curtis from Ryan then he started crying once the door shut.

"It's alright buddy. You'll see them in a minute."

Curtis rubbed his eyes tiredly before laying his head on Seth's shoulder. His deep breathing came a minute later. Inside the room Ryan handed Seth the rings before Leah walked through a side door. She smiled as she came to stand next to Ryan. A few minutes later they were married.

Outside it was snowing harder as Ryan hailed them a cab. Leah stood next to Seth smoothing down Curtis' jacket.

"See? He loves his puppy," she said with a smile.

"Come on Lee, don't start," he said as he rolled his eyes.

The cab ride to their house took over an hour. Seth carried Curtis while Ryan carried his car seat and bag.

"Let me show you were you can put him," Leah said as she walked down the hall.

Seth followed her to the nursery and lay Curtis in his crib.

"He can climb over the side so you have to watch him," she warned.

"Okay," he promised.

"We bought him a bed for Christmas but we haven't had a chance to put it together."

"Since today is Christmas," Seth said in understanding.

"We honestly do appreciate you doing this for us. We'll be back on Monday."

"So you've told me several times."

"Lee?" Ryan called from the foyer.

"I'll see you Monday."

"Bye," she said before hugging him.

He smiled down at her once she let go. He was in the living room a few minutes after they left. He sat on the couch looking around the room. The tree was real, just like they'd had when they were growing up. Unwrapped presents were piled underneath the tree. He hoped his mom didn't blow a gasket when she found out.

His sister had grown and matured since leaving home. Their mom worried because she only saw Leah and the baby once a month. She kept him on a short leash because of it. He didn't mind, he didn't have any intention of leaving Washington much less La Push. He lived in the house that he had grown up in. His mom had never had the heart to sell it. It was now his and with all the memories that came with it he was happy.

XXXX

CJ had woken Hannah and Embry before the sun. They had let him go through his stocking and open one present to keep him quiet so that he wouldn't wake Noah. He lay on the couch with Embry who had fallen back to sleep while they watched Captain America.

Noah made noise from the boy's room while Hannah made breakfast. It was tradition for them to eat first then open presents. Hannah carried Noah to the kitchen and sat him in his high chair while she finished the pancakes.

CJ came in a few minutes later carrying Noah's stocking.

"Is the movie over?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Was it good?"

"It was really cool," he said excitedly.

"Is your dad still asleep?"

"Uh huh."

"Hold off on going through that," she said when he put a hand in Noah's stocking.

Ten minutes later Hannah had Noah fed and CJ was eating when she went to wake up Embry. He stirred, opening one eye as he gave her a sleepy smile.

"Happy Anniversary," she said before kissing him lightly.

"Mmm. You too," he said his voice still thick with sleep.

"Merry Christmas," she whispered.

"Merry Christmas."

He pulled her down to him before kissing her. It was tender and sweet, they both put all of their emotion behind it.

"Mom? Dad?" CJ called.

"Yeah?" Embry answered.

"Can I have another pancake?"

"And then reality set in," he said with a laugh.

"Go head," Hannah called.

She pulled away from him before helping him off the couch. They walked into the kitchen with an arm wrapped around the other's waist.

"Merry Christmas, Dad," CJ said with a mouthful of pancake.

"Merry Christmas Buddy," he said ruffling his hair.

Noah reached for Embry once he stood in front of him. Embry grabbed a rag then crossed the room to the sink to wet it. He wiped Noah's face and hands before sitting down.

"Put him back in his chair. You have to eat."

"I can eat like this. You do it all the time."

"Okay, but just to warn you; it's not as easy as it looks," she said as she set a plate of pancakes in front of him.

"Dad?" CJ asked.

"Hmm?"

"Why do you eat so much? You're skinny."

"You'll understand when you're older."

Hannah looked over CJ's shoulder at Embry. They would have to explain things to him. Just in case it happened to him. What was the right age to bring it up? No one had told Embry, Jacob, or even Quil. They couldn't let that happen to the boys, not if she had anything to say about it. He gave her a look that let her know that he agreed with her.

After breakfast CJ helped Embry clean the kitchen while Hannah went through Noah's stocking with him. He played with his sock monkey while Hannah put his new sippy cups in the cabinet.

They were in the living room ten minutes later and CJ was shredding paper, throwing it left and right. The tradition was that Embry and Hannah would open their gifts at night after CJ had gone to bed. They went through their stockings while CJ helped Noah open his gifts. Once all of their gifts were open Embry went to the front window.

"Hey Ceej?"

"Yeah Dad?"

"I think Santa left you a present on the porch."

CJ was out the door once Hannah helped him put on his jacket and slippers. They both watched as he marveled over the bike on the front porch. Embry had spent the last four days teaching him how to ride his old two wheeler from when he was little.

"Wow," CJ said as he ran a hand over the seat.

"You like that?" Embry asked.

"Uh huh," he said, not looking away from the bike.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur of excitement and wonder. By the time they went to Nadine's for lunch Hannah was ready to crash. The boys still had to be dropped off at her mom's. She would do that while Embry made dinner.

When she got home from her mom's that night Embry was just starting dinner.

"This is gonna be a while. Go lay down," he said as he pushed her towards their room.

"I'm going, I'm going," she said tiredly.

Two hours later he was trying to wake her up.

"Mmm. Lay with me," she said still half asleep.

"As tempting as that sounds, dinner is ready. You barely ate at my mom's."

"I was saving my appetite for lasagna."

"Come on," he said pulling her off the bed.

The kitchen was lit with candles and he had gone out to get her favorite flowers. The lavender tulips sat in the center of the table. He pulled out a chair for her and she grabbed hold of his hand, making him pause.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

They ate in silence before heading into the living room. They sat in front of the tree while he handed her the first present. It was a small box, and once she opened it she smiled when she saw another charm for her bracelet. It was a simple silver circle that had Noah's name on one side and his birthday inscribed on the other.

He opened a long medium sized box and was surprised to find the guitar that he had mentioned that he liked from a few weeks ago.

"This is too much."

"That's why you only have two gifts under the tree."

"Thank you Baby," he said before leaning in to kiss her.

He had gotten her perfume and diamond earrings to go along with her charm. She had gotten him a new leather jacket that he immediately tried on.

"There is one more thing that couldn't fit in your stocking," he said before standing.

He came back into the room carrying something underneath his shirt.

"Embry Lucas Call, is that a dog?" she asked as it started to whine.

"Maybe," he said teasingly.

"Hand it here," she reprimanded.

He handed her a chubby yellow lab puppy that immediately started sniffing her. It licked her hand cautiously as Embry sat back down.

"You didn't get him for me. You got him for the boys," she said teasingly.

"I got him for the three of you."

"I love him. CJ is going to freak, and I can just see Noah pulling on his tail," she said with a laugh.

He watched her with affection as she set the dog down.

"Where did you hide him?"

"Sam and Emily's. Sam had to get one for Cassie."

He draped an arm over her shoulders as she scooted across the floor. The puppy had fallen asleep in Hannah's lap. This was their first Christmas in the house and their first anniversary spent completely alone. Emily had watched CJ for the past four years while they spent the night holed up in their room. It was more intimate the old way. Next year they would keep the boys at home. Maybe by then they could work on expanding their family.

XXXX

Bella woke to the smell of cinnamon and vanilla. She groggily followed the smell to the kitchen. Jacob was standing at the stove pulling something out of the oven.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she stood behind him.

"Making you breakfast. Now go back to bed."

"Breakfast in bed? How did I get so spoiled?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You married me, so it's my right to spoil you. Now please go back to bed."

"Merry Christmas," she said before letting go.

"Come back here," he said pulling her back to him.

"You told me to go back to bed."

"One more thing."

She looked up at him expectantly. He brushed his lips to hers as he reached around her to pick up something from off the table. When he pulled away he handed her a blue velvet box. She popped the top to see a diamond dual heart shaped necklace. The two hearts were joined to look like one.

"I love it, thank you," she said kissing him lightly.

"Let me put it on you."

She turned around and pulled her hair away from her neck. She turned and he stepped away from her.

"Back to bed, I'll bring you breakfast in a few minutes."

She was watching a movie when he came in with a tray of food ten minutes later. He set it between them and glanced at the TV.

"What are you watching?"

"Titanic."

"Again?" he asked admonishingly.

"I like the ending."

"Because Jack dies?" he asked skeptically.

"No, because they end up together after all those years," she said with a light laugh.

He turned off the TV and she grabbed the remote from him.

"Do not turn that back on," he said sternly.

"We can watch The Expendables later."

"Let's watch Leo die."

She turned the TV back on as she fell against the pillows. She grabbed one of the cups of coffee from the tray and took a long pull. She sighed before setting it down. The cinnamon rolls were calling her name. Apparently he had gotten Sue's recipe. She took a big bite before moaning her approval.

"Good?" he asked with a pleased smile.

"Mm hmm," she said giving him a thumbs up.

She chewed slowly, not believing that he had made them himself. If she hadn't seen the mess in the kitchen she would have asked him if he had gone out to get them.

"Amazing," she said when she finally swallowed.

"Thank you."

They talked while they ate and as promised, once Titanic was over they watched Stallone and friends blow up stuff and kill people. Once the movie was over they got ready to go over to her dads. They agreed that they would open presents when they got back.

At her dad's they walked into a ticking time bomb. Sue was on the war path while Bella helped her get dinner on the table.

"Your sister and brother have done the unthinkable."

"What happened?"

"Leah got married this morning and Seth was her witness," Her dad explained.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Jacob asked.

"Leah and Ryan didn't tell anyone else until after it happened."

"To think, Sharon wasn't there to see two of her kids get married. I swear if Seth pulls that kind of stunt I will kill him."

"Thank you both for not doing something like this," Charlie said as he tried to calm Sue down.

Bella and Jacob both nodded. They were both thinking the same question. Why hadn't they thought of it first? Dinner was cut short because Sue was too upset. They left an hour after they had gotten there. Bella texted someone as they got into the car. Her phone vibrated less than ten seconds later. She read the message quickly before shutting it again.

"Who were you talking to?"

"Emmett. Vampires celebrate Christmas too. That reminds me; they invited us over tomorrow for dinner."

He nodded as they headed down the highway towards home. When they got home Bella made herself a glass of wine while Jacob went to change. He came back into the room, picking her up and placing her on the counter.

"Did you see your present?"

"It's hard to miss. I'm never leaving our bedroom."

"Are we going to have sex with that damn thing on?" she asked in an aggravated voice.

"That is the only time that the TV will be turned off," he said pointedly.

"I knew you would like it."

"You weren't wishing Emmett Merry Christmas, were you?"

"No, I did that this morning. I was making sure that it was set up."

"Where did you hide it? It's huge."

"At Emmett and Rosalie's."

"How big is it?"

"It's a sixty inch."

"You sure know how to make a guy feel loved."

"I try."

He pushed away from the counter and pointed at her.

"Don't move," he said before walking out of the room.

He came back a few seconds later with an arm load of presents. He handed her a light weight square package first. It was a new Nook. Her old one was one of the first to come out and it had died on her a few months ago.

"Thank you," she said with a smile.

By the time she was done she had a new sweater, a brief case, a new laptop bag, and the complete series of Prison Break.

"Why didn't you grab yours?"

"That's your job."

"Let me down," she said pushing him away.

She came back in carrying two presents. She handed him a small box first. Inside was a picture of a giant tool chest.

"What is this?" he asked.

"That is in your shop."

"Where did you get the money for this and the TV?"

"My bonus from work covered it. Here," she said handing him the other present.

"Any more surprises?" he asked holding the heavy box with one hand.

"Just open it."

He sat it on the table before pulling the paper off. Inside was a helmet with his shop logo on the side. The white hawk with its wings spread wide covered the whole right side. He pulled her to him then leaned down. He kissed her softly, threading his fingers in her hair. He didn't know how he was going to repay her for what she had done. He had a feeling that she wouldn't accept it anyway. So he would enjoy his TV and the tool chest would be put to good use. That would be thanks enough.

XXXX

The sun was coming up when Joe started to fuss. He had stayed asleep longer this time. A full two hours. He had been waking up every forty five minutes during the night. Rachel picked him up from his bassinet and felt that he was wet. She grabbed a diaper and changed him quietly. Paul slept soundly next to her. He had been great about getting up in the night the past two nights to get whatever she needed.

She carried a diaper clad Joe to his room to get him dressed. Once that was done she started a pot of coffee for Paul. She would be glad when she would able to have a cup of coffee. Since she was breast feeding she couldn't even have a soda, which she wanted even more than coffee.

She took Joe back to his room and sat in the rocker by the window. It looked like it might snow later. She had missed out on a white Christmas every year that she was in college. She hoped that it would happen this year.

Paul was up and walking around half an hour later. He shuffled his way into the kitchen then came to stand at the door of the nursery. Rachel was breast feeding as she gently rocked the baby. He came into the room to sit on the ottoman in front of them. He set his coffee cup on the floor before running a finger down Joe's arm.

"Merry Christmas," Rachel said as she looked up at him with a smile.

"Merry Christmas."

Joe finished and Paul took him so that Rachel could readjust her robe. Joe burped quietly while Paul gently patted his back. Rachel stood and walked out of the room with Paul following her. She pulled a metal container out of the refrigerator. A baking sheet was next before she put three scones on it.

People had been bringing food by left and right. The apple cranberry scones were from Sue, and they were Paul's favorite. The sheet was put in the oven before she came to sit in Paul's lap at the table. Joe sat in his bouncy seat staring up at the ceiling while she kissed Paul.

It was a needy, hungry kiss. They fought for dominance before she finally won him over. He bit back a growl as she massaged his tongue with hers. They hadn't kissed like this in months. He hadn't realized how much he had missed it until she had pulled away. She kept her forehead to his as her breathing slowed. He draped his arms over her shoulders, playing with her hair.

"Now that is a good way to greet me."

"I'll remember that for later," she said with a laugh.

"Do you want your present now or do you want to wait?"

"Since when are you eager to do something that doesn't involve close contact with me?"

"Who said you wouldn't be close to me? Sit up for a second."

She pulled away and he pulled something out of his pajama pants pocket. He kept his fist closed until he held it out to her. She held out her palm and he dropped a necklace into it. It had Joe's birthstone in a small pendant.

"I figured, if we have more we can add onto it."

"It's beautiful, thank you," she said before brushing her lips to his.

"You're welcome."

"Wait a minute. I happen to know that there is a present underneath the tree for me from you," she said giving him a pointed look.

"I only got you one Christmas gift."

"Uh, hello?" she said holding up the necklace.

"That's from Joe," he said as he shook his head.

"You're sneaky. I didn't think to get you anything from him," she said with a pout.

"You've had other things on your mind."

"Before New Year's you will have a gift from him."

"You don't have to."

"I want to."

She got out of his lap to pull the scones from the oven. She refilled Paul's coffee cup before coming to sit back down.

"Why are doing everything for me?"

"It's to keep myself active. I have to lose weight somehow."

"As long as you don't lose your boobs."

"They're torpedoes, get it right," she said nudging him.

"I happen to like torpedoes," he said tracing one of her boobs through the silk fabric of her robe.

"Any guy who says he doesn't is a liar."

"Or gay," he offered.

"You'd be surprised. Gay guys are boob fans too. I had a friend in college who would always grab them. They were the only boobs he would touch."

"He wouldn't have done that with me around. Joe and I are the only ones who have claim on them."

"I love it when you get territorial," she whispered in his ear.

He kissed her, cupping her neck to keep her in place. She wrapped her arms around his neck. The kiss slowed to a relaxed pace as his hands went beneath her robe. He massaged her shoulders slowly as she played with the hair at the nape of his neck.

Joe made his presence known by accidently kicking Paul in the arm. He pulled away before looking over at his son. He couldn't believe that he was a dad. He hadn't wanted kids when he was younger. Once he joined the pack he thought it was his duty to carry on the legacy. That had all changed when Rachel had come into the picture. He had wanted her to be the mother of his children from the first time they had slept together. It went farther than her being his imprint. He had found the piece that completed him when they had gotten together.

They fought, a lot. Their fights got heated to the point that they were in each other's faces sometimes, but he would never raise a hand to hit her. No matter how many times she hit him. Their love making had never been boring, every time with her still brought fireworks in front of his eyes. He hoped the feeling never went away.

Rachel laid her head on his shoulder as his hands rested on her shoulders. They watched Joe as his little body squirmed in his seat making it bounce up and down lightly.

"He's an active little guy, isn't he?" Paul asked.

"He reminds me of Jake. Even when he was a baby, he couldn't stay still."

"Our son reminds you of your brother?"

"As scary and weird as it seems, yeah he does."

"Take it back," he said.

Rachel laughed into his neck as he held her tighter. He stood, cradling her to him. He carried her into the living room before placing her on the couch.

"Go get the baby," she said once he sat her down.

"He's fine. He's strapped in, he can't go anywhere."

"Paul, go get the baby," she said in a warning tone.

He brought Joe, seat and all and sat him on the floor between them. He reached beneath the tree and handed her a gift. It had Joe's name written on it, but it was one that she hadn't seen before. She looked at Paul with unsure eyes.

"I got it when I went out last night."

She unwrapped it and found a small unmarked cardboard box. She opened it and pulled out the styrofoam container. She opened the container and saw a glass ornament inside. 'Babies First Christmas 2012' was etched into the glass.

"This is really nice. I didn't think to get him one."

"That's why I got him one."

"Suck up," she said, giving him a teasing smile.

She put the ornament on the tree before kneeling to grab another gift. She handed it to Paul before sitting down again. He pulled off the paper to find a new laptop. He had thrown his against the wall during the last fight they'd had a few weeks before.

"I figured since it was my fault that you broke the last one that I should get you a new one."

"Thank you Baby," he said with a smile.

"I promise not to piss you off while you're on the computer again."

He handed her a small flat box next. It wasn't wrapped, but it had a ribbon on it. She pulled the ribbon and the lid off before looking up at him with wide eyes. Inside was the deed to the building that she wanted to buy.

"I had Sam and Embry go with me when I went to look at it. It needs some work, but it's not too bad."

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"It makes me feel better knowing that you won't be far away."

"It's not even ten minutes from here," she said with a nod.

They took pictures of Joe with his presents and sat under the tree while he slept. They fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms as they leaned against the recliner. Their first Christmas as a family had been one that they would never forget.


	16. Letting Someone Else Take the Reigns

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. But I do own Joe; he's my own creation with my favorite Uncle's name.**

The hammering, drilling, and the saw could be heard from outside. Rachel watched from outside on the sidewalk looking in. Embry was taking down a wall while Seth sawed off an extra piece of counter top. Sam was drilling the light fixture into place.

Joe slept in the car a few feet away. It had only been two weeks since Christmas. Already things were starting to happen. She could see in her mind how she wanted the studio to look. She had gone over the plans with Sam only last week. There was still a lot of work that needed to be done.

Paul came to stand next to her, handing her a tall cup of coffee. She wrapped an arm around him before leaning against him.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"It's not how I want it yet, but it's getting there."

"Is it still unnamed?"

"For now, I don't want it to be lame. I want it to be a name that people will remember."

"I'm sure that you'll come up with something great."

They walked back to the car and he let her in before getting in. The ride home was filled with silence because they didn't want to wake the baby.

Joe woke up as Rachel took him out of his carrier. Paul went to start dinner while Rachel fed the baby. He sucked lightly on his bottle as she stroked his cheek. He watched her with a curious look, one that reminded her of Paul.

He had an abundance of energy. He was always moving. Her dad had been the one to point that Jacob hadn't been the only Black to be like that as a baby. Rachel had been that way too, she had just grown out of it while Jacob thrived off of it.

She burped him and he spit up a considerable amount onto her shirt.

"Thanks Buddy. Serves me right for not using a burp rag," she said as she carried him to her room.

She settled him on the bed before pulling her shirt off. She grabbed a sweater from the closet and quickly pulled it on. She carried him into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"Did he spit up on you?"

"Yeah. He got me good," she said as she strapped him into his bouncy seat.

Paul stood behind her massaging her shoulders while pasta boiled on the stove. She sighed contently before closing her eyes. He had been more than understanding as they tried to adjust to having a baby. She had been letting things slide a lot more. They hadn't fought in over three weeks. They'd had disagreements that were easily worked through, but nothing major. She didn't want them to be the kind of parents that constantly fought in front of their kids.

XXXX

Bella was wrapped in warmth when she woke up. It was warmer than normal; almost like there were two of Jacob under the blanket with her. She rolled away from him before feeling a wave of nausea. She ran to the bathroom, not even bothering to turn on the light. The sound of her retching woke Jacob. He flicked on the hall light before coming to kneel behind her. He held back her hair as she heaved one last time.

"You okay?"

"No. I think I caught the flu from Charlie," she said quietly.

"Do you need anything?"

"Yeah, for you to keep a safe distance," she said warning him.

"I don't care if I get it," he said pulling her to him.

"I'm burning up and you are making it worse. Please let go," she said with a sigh.

He let go of her before moving away. She walked out of the bathroom and down the hall. She flopped onto the couch before grabbing the remote then the quilt from off the back of the couch. Jacob came into the room handing her a glass of water and two pills.

"I'll call Shannon and tell her that you aren't coming in."

"No, don't. I can work from home. I'll have her e-mail me what she needs done."

"You need to rest."

"I will. But I have to work too."

"Not today, possibly not tomorrow either."

"Jake…" she said with a sigh.

"No."

"Fine," she said weakly.

"I'm not going in today either. I don't want to leave you here alone."

"Okay," she said before she took the medicine.

She turned on the TV as he walked out of the room. Now that she was away from him her body temperature was starting to go down. She felt dizzy and lightheaded. Every bone in her body ached. She fell back to sleep to the sounds of Matt Lauer and Ann Curry.

Jacob worked on his laptop in the chair by the couch while Bella slept. She had kicked off the blanket after three hours. He woke her to check her temperature after he called Rachel. Her temperature had spiked and she needed an ice bath. He had carried her to the bathroom even though she had protested.

After twenty minutes he had gone to check on her. Her lips were blue and she was shaking like a leaf.

"Her lips are almost purple," he said once he called Rachel back.

"That means that her fever broke. That doesn't mean that she's better. Make sure she eats something, even if it's just toast."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. Don't crowd her; your temperature is going to make it worse."

"I found that out first thing this morning. It wasn't the best thing to wake up to."

"Sorry bro. The best thing that you can do is keep a safe distance unless she needs you."

"Thanks Ray."

"You're welcome. Tell Bells that I hope she feels better."

"I will."

He found Bella back on the couch after he got off the phone with Rachel. She was on her laptop and he looked over her shoulder to make sure it wasn't something for work. She was only e-mailing her mom.

"Do you want me to make you something to eat?"

"I'd just puke it up," she said with a shake of her head.

"I'm going to the store to get you some ginger ale and Gatorade. When I get back I'm making you some toast," he said as he put on his shoes.

She shook her head in defiance as he stood.

"You need to eat. Is there anything else you want from the store?"

"Soup."

"I'll get you some soup."

"It doesn't mean that I'll eat it as soon as you get back."

"The toast is for when I get home," he said as he walked out the door.

She growled in frustration once he closed the door. She flipped through channels until she settled on something. Jacob looked at the TV before rolling his eyes when he came back in ten minutes later.

"The Notebook," he said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sick, deal with it," she whined.

"Do you want butter on your toast?"

"No, I'll eat it dry," she said with a sigh.

She was too weak to argue with him. He brought in the toast and she gave him an icy glare. He bit back a smile before walking out of the room. The movie was enough to run him out of the room. He was in their bedroom working on his laptop when she came in to find a movie an hour later. She pulled down National Treasure before grabbing two more pills from the bathroom.

She was getting herself a glass of ginger ale when she heard him pass the kitchen. He was at the opposite end of the couch, still on his laptop when she came in.

"Am I going to bother you?" he asked, not looking up from his computer.

"I'll let you know," she said as she put the movie in.

She sat as far away from him as she could. She was miserable; all she wanted to do was curl up next to him and watch the movie. She sighed before she got up from the couch.

"Where are you going?"

"To change."

She came back wearing just her robe. She sat as close to him as she could manage. She was a few inches away when he reached for her hand. She squeezed it lightly before letting go.

"Please tell me that you aren't naked under there," he groaned.

"Yes I am," she said as she started the movie.

He sighed as she put her head on his shoulder. He looked down at her, only to see down her robe. He forced himself to look away but was unable to hold back the growl that came from deep in his throat.

"Is my being naked bothering you?"

"Yes," he said with a choked laugh.

"I can go back to the other end."

"Or you could put some clothes on."

"Then I would get hot again. I want to sit with you."

"I'll suffer through it. Just keep your robe closed."

He kissed her forehead before shutting down his computer. He set it on the table before lying down on the couch. Bella got comfortable in front of him before he placed a hand on her hip. They got lost in the movie as they both settled down.


	17. A New Life and a Reconsilation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I do own all of the OC characters; please do not use them without my permission.**

CJ played with Noah and the puppy on the floor while Hannah graded papers on the couch. The boy's laughter and the dogs happy barking were welcome background noise as she read through a poorly written essay on The Catcher in the Rye. The student who wrote it obviously hadn't read the story. She wrote an F and 'See me after class' at the top of the first page.

"Mom, look!" CJ said excitedly.

Hannah set the paper down and looked down to the floor. Noah was on all fours, smiling at CJ who was a few feet away. The dog was in CJ's lap, wagging his tail happily.

"Move back a little. Let's see what he does," Hannah said.

CJ moved to the recliner and sat on the edge of the seat.

"Come here, Noah," CJ encouraged.

Noah reached out slowly with one hand than the other. He tried to pull his legs but fell onto his stomach in the process. Hannah put him back on his hands and knees before coming to sit with CJ. CJ sat in her lap holding out the dog for Noah.

Noah moved again, this time he was able to pull his legs along without falling. It was a slow process, but he finally made it to the recliner. CJ picked him up as Hannah laughed and clapped.

"Should we call Dad?"

"We'll surprise him when he comes home. You help him work on his crawling. I've got to get the gate down from the attic and find the safety locks for the cabinets."

"Yes ma'am."

She was putting a lock on the entertainment center when Embry came in. He watched her as he toed off his boots then shrugged off his jacket.

"Guess who's mobile," she said as she got up from the floor.

"And I missed it?" he asked, crestfallen.

"I got it on my phone. I'll show you in a little while."

"Where is he now?"

"Playing in his playpen," she said pointing across the room.

Embry crossed the room to stand over Noah. He held up his arms letting Embry know that he wanted to be picked up.

"Where's CJ?"

"He's watching a movie in our room."

He crossed the room again to stand next to her. He wrapped an arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"It won't be much longer before he starts talking," she said.

"Don't force him. He'll talk when he's ready."

"I promise that I won't force him."

"Good, because I can't take it again," he said with a heavy sigh.

"You big baby," she teased.

He laughed, remembering how excited she had been when CJ had said his first word. It had been Momma followed by hi, bye, and cookie. She had gotten frustrated when he wouldn't say Dada. He had finally said it without prompt when it was just him and Embry. Embry had been filled with pride while Hannah had been sorry that she had missed it.

XXXX

Bella was putting on earrings while Jacob tried to tie his tie. He sighed before clawing at it. It came undone and he tried again. Bella turned to face him, putting a hand on his. He was taking his frustration of having to go to a big fancy dinner for her work out on his tie. It was the nicest one he had and she didn't want to see it ripped to shreds.

"I'll do it," she said taking the tie off of him.

She made the necessary knot before pulling up his collar. She slipped the tie back over his head before pulling at the tie. She fixed his collar before buttoning it down.

"There," she said putting a hand on his chest.

"Thanks," he said looking down at her.

She leaned up to place a quick, light kiss on his lips before pulling away. He put his wallet in his back pocket while she grabbed her clutch.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked.

"Yeah."

She slipped an arm in his as they walked down the hall to the elevator. This would only be the second time that people from her work would see him other than the pictures on her desk. The fact that he was dressed up made him look even more desirable. He opened her car door for her and helped her inside. She waited until he was in the car before turning to look at him.

"I'm going to be the envy of every woman there."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"Because you look so good?" she mused.

"Because you do, I'm just an added bonus."

"You are a nice piece of arm candy," she stated.

"So are you," he said with a smile.

She returned the smile as she felt a small blush creep up her neck. He started the car and nothing else was said for the forty minute ride to the Banquet Hall. He caught the valet staring at Bella's legs and he gave her a knowing smile.

"See?" he asked low enough for only her to hear.

"Stop," she said with a shy smile.

He took her arm and placed it in the crook of his arm before leading her up the stairs. Once inside he took their coats to the coat room and she waited for him in the front room. When he came back she was talking to an older man and woman. He stood next to her, placing a hand on the small of her back.

"This is my husband Jacob. This is Ron and his wife Ellen. Ron works in editing."

"It nice to meet you," Jacob said politely to Ellen before shaking Ron's hand.

"Have the two of you been married long?" Ellen asked.

"Just four months," Bella said with a smile.

"We should go inside to our seats and leave these two alone Ellen," Ron said pulling Ellen along.

"It was nice meeting the two of you," Ellen said with a smile.

"You too," Jacob said with a nod.

Jacob followed them, leading Bella along by gently pressing his hand to her back. Once inside the room they were shown to their seats. He pulled hers out first and she gave him a thankful smile once he sat down.

"What exactly is this for?" he whispered.

"It's for Shannon. Her birthday is this week. The vice president does this for her every year because she says that she doesn't want presents."

Jacob nodded in understanding. He had yet to meet Shannon. She hadn't come to the wedding because she had an emergency meeting in New York. He had talked to her a handful of times on the phone. Someone cast a shadow over the two of them making them look over their shoulders.

"You must be Jacob, I'm Shannon," she said as she stood over him.

"It's nice to finally meet you," he said as he moved to stand.

"Don't get up, please. She doesn't talk much about you. But when she does it's easy to see that she cares a great deal for you. I wanted to apologize for monopolizing so much of her time."

"It's fine as long as I get a little time with her," he said as he draped an arm over Bella's shoulders.

"I'm an equal sharer, that's one good thing I can say about myself. I see someone else that I need to talk to. It was nice meeting you," she said with a smile.

Bella waited until Shannon had walked away before giving him a teasing smile.

"What?" he asked.

"You are such a flirt," she said with a laugh.

"It worked on you," he said with a shrug.

"It was your rugged good looks and charm that drew me in," she said quietly.

He smiled down at her before sighing. That comment was going to be stuck in his head all night. He wanted to take her back to the car and hop in the back seat. That would have to wait until later. He adjusted his pants hoping that the tent wasn't noticeable. He willed it to go away and sighed in relief when it finally did a few minutes later. Bella's hand on his thigh hadn't helped one bit.

She looked over at him, wondering why he was so quiet. He gave her a pleading look before looking down at her hand that was still on his leg.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"I am now," he whispered.

She pulled her hand away giving him an apologetic look. He sighed before turning to the person on the other side of him. Daniel introduced them and what had just happened was quickly forgotten.

XXXX

Leah stood on the stoop with Curtis on her hip.

"Nana?" he asked.

"Yes baby, we're at Nana's," she said with a smile.

She hadn't seen her mom since she had gotten married nearly two months ago. Sue opened the door, giving Leah an admonishing look.

"You wouldn't let your grandson freeze, would you?"

"Come inside," Sue said quietly.

Seth was in the kitchen when Leah stepped into the house. Curtis reached for him and Leah let him down.

"Can you watch him? I need to talk to Mom."

"Sure."

"Seth!" Curtis said excitedly.

"Up you go," Seth said as he picked Curtis up.

Leah followed Sue into the living room. Sue paced and Leah followed after her.

"I know that you're upset."

"Why did you do it?" Sue pleaded.

"We didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

"How did you manage to talk your brother into helping you? You've never worked together before."

"I didn't tell him until he was in Boston. Don't be mad at him."

"I still don't understand why he did it. You tortured him when he was little. You did it until you moved out! All the times that I stuck up for him, all the times that I grounded you were for nothing," she said through her arms in the air in frustration.

"They weren't for nothing. Seth and I get along so well now because of all the things that you did for us growing up."

"Now it pays off since you're both out of the house," she said with a shake of her head.

"Would you sit down?"

"Why? You always chase me when I do this."

"Because it's not good for the baby," Leah said politely.

"Baby!" Curtis yelled.

Sue stopped and then turned around. Seth brought Curtis into the room and Leah took him. Curtis patted Leah's stomach while looking down at it.

"Yes Curtis, the baby is still in there," Leah said with a laugh.

"I'm gonna go," Seth said.

"Okay honey, I'll see you later," Sue said.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks Bro."

Seth left quietly as Sue watched Leah with wide eyes.

"You're pregnant?"

"For the past six weeks."

"When did you find out?"

"Yesterday," she said with a shy smile.

"Leebaby, I'm so happy for you," she said wrapping her arms around Leah and Curtis.

"Thank you, Momma," Leah said quietly.

"Do you think that you'll be able to handle two under the age of four?"

"You do say that I have enough energy for two people."

"I do say that. Let's hope that Ryan can handle it. Have you told him?"

"Not yet. He's been training so much."

"You want to wait until things settle down."

"Maybe this weekend," Leah said with a nod.

Leah didn't know how long they stayed that way. She did step away when Curtis started to squirm. Sue stood back wiping tears from her eyes.

"When are you due?"

"Late July, early August."

"Just in time for this one's birthday," Sue said as she tickled Curtis's side.

He reached for her and she took him willingly. He laid his head on her shoulder and she kissed his forehead. Leah rubbed his back as she smiled at him. She hoped this next one was as easy going as he was. It didn't matter if it were a boy or a girl. As long as the baby was healthy she would be happy. If this next one had Ryan's kind, caring, expressive blue eyes that would be an added bonus.


	18. Giving Him What He Wants

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**AN: This chapter does contain lemon, but not much. Oh yeah, this is also the next to last chapter.**

The front door to the town house opened and Ryan shook snow from his shoes before stepping inside. The house was quiet except for the sound of the heat turning on. Usually Curtis would be at the door by now. It was too late for him to be taking a nap and Leah's car was in the driveway.

"Lee?" he called.

"I'm in the kitchen," Came her reply.

He walked down the hall hearing nothing. Curtis was not normally this quiet. He walked into the kitchen seeing Leah at the table.

"Where's the baby?"

"He's across the street. You and I need to talk."

"About what?" he asked quizzically.

"Sit down."

He sat next to her, giving her a worried look.

"I love you so much. I wanted to put that out there first."

"I love you too," he said with a nervous laugh.

"You know that I haven't been feeling that well since last week, right?"

"Yeah."

"I took a pregnancy test the other day and it came back positive."

"Have you gone to the doctor?"

"The same day I took the test. I'm seven weeks along. The night you signed with the Red Sox and we got drunk and ended up having sex in the car? That's more than likely the night it happened."

"When are you due?"

"Late August, early September. I know that it's the worst possible timing in the world but it's too late now."

"I more than likely won't be there," he said quietly with a muted sigh.

"That's why it's the worst timing in the world."

"Timing be damned, I'm happy," he said with a wide smile.

"You are? I thought that you would be upset. We haven't even talked about having more kids."

"That doesn't matter," he said pulling her to him.

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight. He laid his chin on her shoulder and brushed her hair out of the way.

"I've already explained things to Curtis. He thinks it's funny to pat my stomach and say baby."

"Like he did with Emily, Hannah, and Rachel?"

"Yep. He stares at it like it's a foreign object."

"That's because you aren't showing. Emily, Hannah, and Rachel were."

"You're right. Do you think we can handle another one?"

"Absolutely, it'll be a piece of cake," he said in a cocky manner.

She smiled, hoping that he was right. His optimism never ceased to amaze her. It always rubbed off on her. She never worried about anything when he was around.

XXXX

Seth hadn't even turned the truck off before the front door opened. He walked up the walkway as Amanda stood just inside the door. He stepped inside and shut the door before taking off his jacket. He set the package he held on the table by the door and put his jacket on the back of the couch.

"Hey."

"Hey," he said with a smile.

"I'm glad that you could come over."

"Where is Jess?"

"In New York, she said that I could come here whenever I wanted."

"Does she know that you invited me over?"

"She does."

"I'm sorry for not calling you on your birthday. I wasn't sure if it would have been alright."

"It wouldn't have been. But if you had I would have made time for you," she teased.

She stood in front of him, waiting for him to reach out for her. He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. She wrapped her arms around him before laying her head on his chest. This was as close as they had ever gotten. After that first initial meeting she had been the one to stand in front of him waiting for him to hug her first.

He knew that it was wrong, but it felt so right. This was as far as things would go until she was old enough. He didn't like it, but he didn't have a choice. Her mom would never let him see her if she found out. And if she found out he could go to jail.

"I brought you something," he said quietly.

"You didn't have to."

"It's your birthday present."

"Is it in the bag?"

He nodded as she pulled away from him. She grabbed the bag then took hold of his hand. She pulled him into the living room and they sat on the couch their bodies practically over lapping. She opened the bag and pulled out the carved wolf that he had made.

"This is really nice. Did you make it?" she asked, running her fingers over the rigid wood that was made to look like fur.

"Yeah."

"Why did you make me a wolf? Why not something else?"

"There's something that I need to tell you."

He started at the beginning and told her everything. He didn't leave anything out. She was quiet while he talked, a look of concern etched across her forehead. Once he was done he asked if she had any questions.

"I'm still confused about the imprint thing. Why did you imprint on someone so young?"

"You don't choose your imprint. Fate takes care of that. You're genetically matched with me."

"Even though I'm only fifteen?" she asked in a scared voice.

"Your age doesn't bother me, I swear it doesn't. I am happy just sitting here with you," he reassured her quickly.

"But once I'm old enough what will happen then?"

"That's up to you. I'm not going to force to do something that you don't want to do."

"You won't need to. Has anyone else imprinted on someone young?"

"My friend Quil's imprint is only eight."

"Oh," she said with a shaky laugh.

"Maybe one day I'll take you to Emily's. She can explain what being an imprint is like or my sister Bella can."

"Bella was nice to me when I met her. Emily is the one with the scars, isn't she?"

"She is, and Bella's pretty great. She's been an imprint for almost as long as Emily has."

"Bella's an imprint?"

"You met Jake. Big guy, really nice, funny?" he explained.

"Yeah, I remember him. He was nice."

"You can't tell anyone."

"Who would believe me?" she asked with a laugh.

"Are you okay with this?"

"It's a lot to take in, but I'm okay. You can't hurt me can you?"

"There's a possibility if you're too close when I phase. That's how Emily got her scars. Sam still carries the guilt."

"Wow," she said in astonishment.

"I would never intentionally hurt you. I can control myself."

"You can, and Sam can't?" she asked in confusion.

"Sam was still new when it happened."

"You're not new?"

"I've been a wolf for six years now."

"What about Sam?"

"He's been one for nearly ten years."

"Then I guess I'm not so worried about you hurting me," she said earnestly.

"I should go. I need to get to work," he said, starting to stand from the couch.

"One more thing," she said as she put a hand on his arm.

He looked down at his arm, then at her. The electric charge still happened every time they touched. Leah said that it would happen until he stopped phasing. After that it would be an accelerated heart rate.

"I want you to kiss me."

"Not gonna happen," he said as he shook his head.

"Please?" she pleaded.

"Do you know the trouble I can get into just being here with you? Yes, you're worth it, you're worth it all. But I don't want to ruin things."

"Just once; then I won't ask you again until I'm old enough."

"You won't need to ask me once you're old enough. I'll do it because I want to," he said, rolling his eyes.

"You don't want to now?" she asked, giving him a hurt look.

"Of course I do! But I'm not going to."

"Then I'll just have to kiss you," she said before leaning in.

He stopped her just inches from his lips.

"Once, then I won't ask again," she promised quietly.

He sighed in frustration before letting go of her arms. She leaned against him before carefully brushing her lips to his. She didn't pull away before he kissed her. Her lips were pliant over his. He didn't want to push things too far. She pulled away, resting her weight on her arms.

"Do you really have to leave?"

"I have to be at work in twenty minutes."

She got off of him before pushing her hair out of her face. He put on his jacket quietly. She put a hand on his arm to stop him from walking to the door.

"I don't get a hug goodbye?" she asked with a hopeful look.

"Come here," he said pulling her to him.

She stepped into his embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck. She leaned up to plant a kiss on his cheek before letting go.

"I guess that will have to do for now," she said with a smile.

"That will work," he said with a nod.

He opened the door and pulled it shut again before anyone could see inside. As far as the neighbors knew he could have been there to see Jessica since her car was in the driveway. He saw Amanda's silhouette at the front window watching as he pulled down the driveway. He should never have let her kiss him. One kiss wasn't going to be enough. Now that it had happened he was going to want it to happen every time. He didn't know how long he would be able to control himself before he gave in and let it happen again.

XXXX

Bella was at her desk when her phone rang. She checked the Caller ID before sliding it open.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey Beautiful," Jacob said.

She smiled as she continued looking over the e-mail that Shannon had sent her. She typed a reply hearing him typing as well.

"You know this is pathetic. I called to talk to you and we're both working instead of talking."

"I can talk to you in ten seconds. Just let me finish this," she said still typing.

"Is there anyone else around?"

"I work in a crowded office Jake; there's always someone around," she reminded him with a sigh.

"Can you go somewhere private?" he asked.

"Why?"

"Because I want to talk to you."

"You're talking to me now," she said as she sent the e-mail.

"No, I mean I want to talk to you," he said, emphasizing the word talk.

She sighed again, knowing exactly what he meant.

"Can't we sext?" she whispered.

"No," he said with a scoff.

"I can't right now."

"Please?"

"Jake, I can't. I have a meeting in half an hour," she reasoned.

"Tell Shannon that you're taking your lunch break," he offered.

"I've already taken it. Give me a few minutes and I'll call you back."

"If you don't call me back in five minutes I am leaving you a smutty voice mail, then I won't be in the mood when you get home."

"You're always in the mood."

"I won't be tonight," he said finality.

"Let me call you right back."

"Five minutes Bella," he warned.

"I know. I get a voice mail and no sex," she said before hanging up.

She gathered up the contracts for the meeting. She carried them to Shannon's office and set them down.

"Is there anything else that you need?"

"Nope. Thanks Hon."

"I'm gonna be away from my desk for a few minutes. If you need me just call my cell."

"I shouldn't need you. But if I do I'll call you."

Bella was in the stairwell a minute later. She pulled out her phone hoping that she got reception in the cramped hall. She dialed Jacob's number when she saw all four bars.

"Hey."

"Hey sexy."

"That's more like it. Why are you echoing?"

"I'm in the stairwell. It's the only place where someone won't walk in on me," she explained.

"At least you have that luxury. I'm in my office."

"Then lock the door."

He could be heard walking across the room then back again.

"I already know what you're wearing so I can't ask you that."

"You don't know everything that I am wearing. You came in when I was fully dressed."

"Now we're getting somewhere," he said in a husky voice.

"I'm wearing my black and pink lace bra."

"The push up one that clasps in the front?"

"That's the one."

"I'm gonna have fun taking that off later."

Bella laughed then he growled loud enough for her to hear.

"What?"

"That means you're wearing your sexy underwear."

"Yes it does, since they match the bra," she confirmed.

"I'm gonna have that stuck in my head for the rest of the day."

"Why am I the only one talking sexy? Speak up!"

"Do you want to hear about what I'm going to do to you later?"

"Yeah," she said huskily.

"I'm going to undress you as slowly as possible. Once you're down to those sexy underwear that show off your ass I'm going to pull them off with my teeth."

"Really?" she asked as her voice dropped lower.

"Then I'm going to push my fingers into you until you scream."

"Damn," she said quietly.

"I'm not done. That bra is coming off next. I'm going to lavish your breast with so much attention that every other part you is going to get jealous."

"What next?"

"I'm going to make love to you. You are going to be writhing underneath me, begging me for mercy."

"Am I now?" she countered.

"Yeah," he said matter of factly.

"Well, I guess I have a wild night to look forward to."

"Your meeting starts in ten minutes."

"I better let you go. I'm gonna need to go outside and cool off."

"You're welcome."

"You are one cocky bastard," she said with a teasing laugh.

"I know," he said with a laugh.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

She all but ran down the stairs to the exit. She took a few deep breaths before falling against the building. She pulled herself together before going back inside. She patted down her hair and adjusted her outfit before the elevator opened on her floor. She didn't even know why she was doing it. She hoped that her face didn't give her away.

"You ready?" Daniel asked.

"Yep," she said before walking into the board room.

She was able to push all thoughts of Jacob from her mind and focus on the meeting. She would see him in a few hours, she could wait.

**AN2: I have been meaning to tell you guys who I based Amanda's character on. I love Amy Teegarden from the show Friday Night Lights. I watched that show from the beginning mainly because I loved the movie and also because Taylor Kitsh is hot, hot hot. I wanted to post a picture of her on my homepage, but we all know that the link wouldn't have worked. So if you don't know who she is, look her ****up on IMDB or even Youtube, you'll be glad you did.**


	19. Destiny Fulfilled

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. But I do own of all of the OC's characters names, except Rachel's daughter's name. You'll find out why in this chapter.**

**AN: This chapter takes place four years after the last one. I just wanted to let all of you know so that you aren't confused.**

Bella stood in the back of the room watching Seth and Amanda have their first dance as husband and wife. She smiled, glad that Seth had found someone who made him as happy as Jacob made her.

She scanned the room looking for Jacob. She found him with his dad. He held their ten month old niece while Billy watched them proudly. Jacob had finally warmed to the idea of kids once Rachel's daughter had been born. Sarah had Jacob wrapped around her finger, even if he wouldn't admit it willingly.

It had taken four years but he was finally pro kids. He had brought up that he wanted to start trying harder. They couldn't try harder if they tried. At twenty five he had recently stopped phasing. He still had all the wolf capabilities since it would take a few more months for the change to take effect.

"Look at him. That little girl loves him almost as much as she loves her daddy," Sue said.

"I know. I'm gonna hate having to pull him away from her later."

"It's a big change from the way things used to be."

"I know."

"Any luck on having one of your own?"

"Not yet."

"It'll happen soon. The psychic said so."

"I just wish that it would hurry up and happen."

"I know Honey," Sue said as she hugged Bella.

Leah came up to them carrying three year old Ben.

"Can one of you watch him? Curtis is puking his guts out in the bushes outside."

"I'll watch him," Bella said.

"I'll help you with Curtis," Sue said following Leah.

"Up," Ben said holding up his arms for Bella.

"Direct and to the point, aren't you Buddy?"

Ben nodded as Bella picked him up. She walked across the room as Ben laid his head on her shoulder. His brunette hair tickled her shoulder as he buried his face in her neck. At three he was the mirror image of Ryan, big blue eyes and all.

She saw Hannah out of the corner of her eye and Hannah nodded. Bella walked over to her with determined confidence.

"I put them in your purse," Hannah said.

"How many did you buy?"

"I spent the whole thirty."

"Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. I just hope everything turns out the way you want it to."

"Me too," Bella said with a tight lipped smile.

"Hannah!" Ben said holding his arms out to her.

"Come here little one. Jacob's on his way over," she said as she looked over Bella's shoulder.

Bella turned to see Jacob making his way through the crowd. She watched him with an affectionate smile as she met him halfway at the dance floor.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Why are you in a hurry to leave?"

"Don't you have to be at work at seven in the morning?"

"I forgot. Let me go say goodbye to everybody."

She walked to Embry and the boys first. Embry hugged her then CJ, she ruffled Noah's hair and he smiled broadly up at her.

"I'll see you guys later," she said over her shoulder.

Her dad and Billy were next.

"You're leaving already? Why?"

"I have to be at work early."

"Drive careful, the roads are icy."

"We will. I love you," she said hugging her dad.

"Love you too."

"Where's my I love you?" Billy asked.

She knelt down to his level and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I love you."

"I love you too Honey," he said with a smile.

"Don't forget to tell your brother goodbye," Charlie said.

"I won't."

She found Seth with Amanda at the head of the main table.

"I'm happy for you," she said as she set her chin on his shoulder.

"Thanks," he said with a smile.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind and he squeezed her arm as a way of saying goodbye. She found Rachel and Paul next and hugged them both. Jacob was at the door when she walked to it. He helped her put on her jacket before handing her the purse.

"It's no wonder that you didn't want to carry your purse around, it's heavy."

"You didn't go through it did you?" she asked in a panicked voice.

"I have never and will never go through your purse. Just like I know that you'll never go through my tool box."

"Why would I? All I need to do is ask you to get me what I need."

"That's right. Why are you so worried about me going through your purse all of the sudden? Do you have something in there that I'm not supposed to know about?"

"I'll tell you when we get home."

"I want to know now," he said pulling her to a stop.

"I have thirty dollars' worth of pregnancy tests in there."

"Let's go home," he said pulling her through the parking lot.

"I knew that would make you be quiet," she mumbled.

"I heard that."

Thirty minutes later Bella had drank three bottles of water.

"How much water are you going to drink?"

"I have to take five tests. I want to be damn sure," she said in an agitated voice.

"You're right. Do you need another one?"

"No. I have to go right now. Stay here. I'll come and get you."

"I've seen you go to the bathroom before."

"Come on," she said in frustration.

She thought that she would never stop peeing. She felt like she had peed enough for ten tests. The tests sat on the counter in a row. Jacob was reading the directions for two of them while she looked over the other three.

"How much more time?" she asked.

"Thirty seconds."

"Come on!" she growled.

The test strips went from blank to strips and signs like a domino effect.

"You're the one with the strip instructions. What does two mean?" she asked.

"You're pregnant."

She grabbed the three on the end and looked down at them. All three had positive signs. She set them down before looking up at him. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"We're gonna have a baby," she laughed breathlessly.

She jumped into his arms and he caught her effortlessly.

"Who should we call first?"

"My mom," she said with determination.

"Good idea."

Renee was elated at the idea of being a grandmother. Bella suggested that he call his dad next.

"Jake?"

"Hey Dad," Jacob said, sounding nervous.

"You miss me already Son?"

"I have something that I need to ask you."

"Well then ask me."

"How do you feel about becoming a granddad again?"

"Are you serious?" Billy asked credulously.

"Yes I'm serious. Hand the phone to Charlie, Bella wants to tell him."

"Hello?"

"Hey Dad," she said, her voice thick with excitement.

"Hey Bells."

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm pregnant."

"Everybody shut up!" he said over the noise.

"What's going on?" Sue asked.

"My little girl is pregnant."

"Give me the phone!" Sue said excitedly.

"Hey."

"You little sneak!"

"I wasn't sure yet. I didn't want to tell you unless I knew for sure."

"I'm so happy for you. Congratulations," she said in a strained voice.

"Thank you."

"What did your mom say?"

"She's excited. Bianca can't wait to be an aunt."

"I bet. Rachel wants to talk to you."

"Congratulations ya hoe."

"Rachel Leigh!" Billy said.

"She knows I'm kidding. So the nympho finally succeeded in getting you pregnant huh?"

"I give up!" Billy said with a laugh.

"You are so warped." Bella said as she tried to control her laughter.

"Here's H."

"So things were successful?" Hannah asked.

"All five came back positive."

"You know what that means don't you?"

"No, what?" she asked curiously.

"You're having quintuplets."

Bella laughed so hard that she nearly dropped the phone.

"Here's Em, he wants to talk to Jake."

She handed Jacob the phone before sitting on the edge of the bath tub.

"Hello?"

"Hey man. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm great."

"Good to know. Here's Quil."

"What up Papa Jake?"

"Oh God, I hope this kid doesn't call me that."

"It will if I have anything to say about it."

"You had better not!" Jacob said with laughter.

"Here's Sam."

"Jake?"

"I'm still here."

"So you already know that it's a girl, just not the one that Marcus is going to marry."

"Thank God. No offense, but that gives me heart palpitations every time I think about it."

"No offense taken. I would be like that if I knew who Cassie was going to marry."

"Any more surprises?"

"Nope, here's your dad."

"Hey,"

"Hey, Dad," Jacob said breathlessly.

"All joking aside, we're all happy for the two of you."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'll let you go. You go take care of your wife."

"I will."

Jacob hung up the phone then sat on the tub next to her. He draped an arm over her shoulders and she rested her head against his.

"Do you think we'll be good parents?" she asked.

"We're gonna be kick ass parents," he said as he tightened his grip on her.

She laughed before standing. She picked up the tests and stared at them.

"I can't believe that it's finally happened," she said in wonder.

"Are you nervous?" he asked, coming to stand behind her.

"No. Are you?"

"A little, it's starting to sink in that pretty soon we'll have someone else to take care of. I'll be fine."

She turned to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too."

He held her close, letting silence fall between them. Things would be changing soon. There were things that they needed to change. Their selfishness would be the first thing to change. After that things would fall into place.

**AN2:**** There are a couple of things that I want to say. First off thank you to all of you for the positive response to this story. It is by far my favorite from the series. I cannot tell you how much it means to me that all of you enjoyed this story as much as you have. Secondly ****I want to run something by y****ou guys. I have four other Twilight stories that I am working on. I would like to take a break from the Love series to focus on one of them. I have another Embry/Bella story in the works, ****an**** Emmett/Bella story and a Paul/Bella along with another Jacob/Be****lla story that I am holding off for a while to give you guys a break from the Jake/Bella love fest. I want some opinions on what you guys want to read next. If I don't hear anything back I'll just put up whatever I think you guys will want. Once I get t****hat story up and running and finish off at least one of the stories that I am posting now I will start posting the next installment of this series.**


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